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A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

73 points by maurycyz

by r2_pilot

1 subcomments

If you haven't experienced a spinthariscope, I can highly recommend it. I bought one as a Christmas present for a buddy and we both enjoy its demonstration of radioactivity.

by DoctorOetker

2 subcomments

I was hoping this would be an artists project page describing the passive imaging of radiation (i.e. not a simple X-ray scan).
Imagine a planar array where each pixel gathers counts like an MCA (multichannel analyzer), mounted in some lead pinhole camera obscura.
This would give an extremely wide range of channels didactically illustrating the presence of calcium in gypsum (dryboard etc), visually show backscatter, etc.
Such pictures of modern and old city scenes would be mesmerizing to watch, partially seeing into buildings, the ground, ...

by cbm-vic-20

0 subcomment

Don't miss a chance to see the Cherenkov radiation effect at your local research reactor.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation

by lukasschwab

3 subcomments

You won't make one at home, but cloud chambers[^1] reveal individual alpha particle tracks.
There's one in the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris — blew my mind!
[^1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber
Edit: turns out people make these at home all the time. Sick!

by anfractuosity

0 subcomment

by dvh

2 subcomments