Before the nuclear crisis that followed the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, did you know what becquerels and millisieverts were? If not, do you know their significance now?

No and No.

Yes and yes.

I had never heard the terms, and even though I read about them every day and hear them on the TV news, I still don't know what they mean. It's also amusing to see and hear people using those terms, as if they know what they mean, when you can tell quite easily that they don't. It's as if they have heard someone on TV say 10 millisieverts is bad for you and then they start repeating it, without understanding what a millisiviert is.

No and yes (well at least I think so).

I had some vague knowledge as I come from a country where the Chernobyl s-t landed. But really not - now I know.

I was familiar with REM instead of Sieverts. I like REM better.

I think this kind of stuff should be taught in schools so that people are more informed. The general public doesn't really understand any of this stuff.

mayber the former not the later

no and not really,,,as long as my Japanese hubby goes to work everyday, i know it is ok for me and our kids to go outside too

No, and yes respectively. Aren`t we all nuclear experts by now? ;:-)

No and yes! Yes, we are all nuclear experts now. :-)

Before the nuclear crisis that followed

Followed? As in happened and then finished? No, that's continuing nuclear crisis, right?

Yes and yes.

Yes becq, and no millisiev. I learned the latter quickly as a matter of life and death, and I had to do it from the katakana, with no internet. I had a CRC, luckily, and some other resources.

I understand the latter well enough to make life and death decisions for me and my family now, which I guess makes me an expert.

Yes and yes, though really only in name and that they were measures of radiation.

In 5 years I hope I can forget.

No and yes. Not that it means much.

No I didn't. Yes I do. I even bought a cool Geiger Counter.

No and yes. And it does make a difference for those living in Tohoku. I second the motion for teaching it in schools.

I was wised up with roentgens before but now the new nomenclature is well ingrained.

The significance is simple. More = BAD.

Didn't know them cos never had to, but now it is necessity to understand them, unfortunately.

I now know that when my geiger counter makes a noise that I am being drilled by some minute , invisible particle that I can't see.I can only imagine the horror the when a geiger counter starts blipping away incessantly-it doesn't matter what the hell we call the units does it?

a becquerel = SI unit of radioactivity, corresponding to one disintegration per second.

Anybody who said they understand the above is very good and below

1 mSv = 0.0101 Sv) and microsievert (1 μSv = 0.010101 Sv).

is double the lying measurement of the same

then to say they understand the significance ,

I think i'll enter the spinach eating contest and fire up on the blood iron content to see if I can correspond to a disintegrated second.