As we all know, bananas are rich in potassium. Personally, I learned this fact from the classic movie, "Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves." I'll spare the details, but they give a kid a banana because he's low on potassium. Thus, just like the number of feet in a mile (5,280) and the longest word to every appear in an English dictionary (Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis), this fruit fact lodge itself in my brain, destined to be used only in social situations and in the unlikely occurrence that I might find myself on a game show one day.
Anyway, for the facts. For every 1 million atoms of potassium, there are about 100 atoms of Potassium-40, an unstable, decaying isotope. As it decays, it releases positrons, the antimatter counterpart of an electron. But don't worry, a black hole isn't going to open up in your mouth when you bite down on a banana (as history has proven). Nor will it begin a universe-destroying chain reaction between antimatter and matter that science fiction loves to throw into doomsday scenarios. The antimatter particles quickly react with nearby electrons and annihilate. So, no need to store you bananas in an underground cellar with yard-thick concrete walls.
-JJ
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