Fengshui is about selecting a site with good qi and then tapping into the qi. By some strange coincidence, many of the rules that govern the flow of qi also apply to radon. Let us try to make a comparison of what we know about qi and what we know about radon.
“Qi flows downwards”
Radon is a gas. Two major factors govern the flow of gases; diffusion and gravity.
If you release a rock in a room, the rock will sit there quietly on the floor if the floor is level. But if you release a gas in a room, it is not going to sit there quietly. Instead, it will attempt to spread itself out in all directions through a process known as diffusion. At the same time, gravitational effects will influence its movements. Thus, a light gas such as hydrogen or helium will float upwards even as it tries to spread itself around. A heavy gas, such as radon, which is about seven times heavier than air, will sink downwards.
The water table under the surface of the earth rises and falls periodically. Each time the water table rises, radon is pushed out of the soil. This radon diffuses upwards into the air. However, because of the effects of gravity, there will be a greater concentration of radon closer to the ground. In a way, one can say that radon flows downwards.
“Qi comes from the mountain”
One of the first things that a fengshui student learns is to look for mountains because he had been taught that “qi comes from the mountain.” In fact, he is so busy looking for mountains that he does not pause and reflect on why people in the lowlands are able to enjoy good qi!
Radon comes from the soil. It is everywhere. However, since radon flows downwards, if there is a mountain nearby, the radon released by the mountain soil will flow down the mountain slopes to the people living in the valley. The soil in the valley also releases radon, but now the people have an additional source of radon from the mountains as well. In a sense, we can say that radon, like qi, comes from the mountain.
“There is no qi at the top of the mountain”
It is a common fengshui rule that one should not build a house at the top of the mountain. From the radon point of view, the top of the mountain is unlikely to benefit from radon since most of the radon that is released from the mountain soil will just roll down the mountain sides. Houses built on the sides of the mountain will need to have a flat area at their front door to collect the radon. This flat area functions like a ming tang(bright hall) in fengshui.
“Qi is scattered by the wind, but is retained by water”
If there is no air current, radon will tend to pool at the depressions and low spots of the land. These spots of high radon concentration can be dispersed by the wind in much the same manner as the wind disperses smoke. Air currents aid the diffusion process and the radon will be well spread out into the atmosphere instead of massing at certain concentration points. Needless to say, high concentrations of radon cannot exist in windy areas. So far the behavior of radon is similar to qi.
Among the fengshui practitioners, there does not appear to be a unanimous consensus regarding qi and water. Some say that qi is retained by water, some say that qi stops at the boundary of water, and others say that qi is reflected by water. Radon will flow towards water and it will pool on the water surface. This has nothing to do with the qualities of the water. Radon, being a heavy gas, will flow down towards the lowest point of the land. Where are the lowest points? If you look at the cross section of the land, the water surface of a river is frequently several metres lower than the surrounding land. Thus, radon will gravitate towards the nearest river or pond. It will not gravitate to water towers and aquariums!
“Qi needs to be constantly renewed”
Qi will not last forever and needs to be constantly renewed.
If you keep nitrogen in an airtight container, the nitrogen will remain in there for years and years. If you keep radon in an airtight container, the radon will start to undergo radioactive decay. Radon is about the only gas that will decay and it has a half-life of only 3.8 days. In one half-life it decays to half concentration. In two half-lives it decays to a quarter of its original amount. For practical purposes, I would say that most of it is mostly gone in 4 half-lives, or about 15 days. By that time, only one sixteenth of the original amount will remain, and that will not provide you with much air ionization. Close the doors and windows of a room for fifteen days and the air inside will start smelling musty. There will still be a bit of air ionization going on inside the room because of the presence of traces of radioactive solids(uranium, radium etc) in the brick walls, but the air will still smell musty. Thus, we need to open the doors and windows every once in a while because radon needs to be constantly renewed.
Conclusion
The similarities between qi and radon are too close to be ignored. Qi encompasses many things, and I would think that radon is an important component of the atmospheric side of the qi process.
It is quite unfortunate that there is an irrational fear of radon being propagated around the world so that contractors can make a few thousand bucks to unnecessarily radon-proof a house to the detriment of the house owner. Can radon be fatal? Of course in certain unusual circumstances it can! Electricity too, can be fatal. But that should not mean that we should live in a house without electricity, should it? Animals flee from fire because they know that fire can be fatal. Human beings, being more rational than lower animals, know that fire is usable. Similarly, instead of blindly fleeing from radon, we ought to be rational enough to know that radon is usable and that it heals. Human beings are better than lower animals in one very important aspect; we are able to use fengshui to our benefit.
Our guest author, Mr Mike Teh, is a senior lecturer in a private university. He did his masters in engineering through research in fluid dynamics. In his spare time, he studies the practice of Feng Shui to see if a scientific basis can be found. This is his third contribution to our journal. - Pau Wan Leow (ed.)
