Tag Archives: radioactivity

Thorium

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Gamma radiation from tungsten rods with 2% radioactive Thorium 546 CPM

SuperHero Element time. THOR: An essential part of his hammer is of course, Thorium.
For ordinary mortals, Thorium 2% is added to tungsten welding rods.  Here it has a count of 564 CPM (counts per minute). Background radiation is about 50 CPM.
“Continue reading” for more interesting facts about thorium and lantern mantles plus links…
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Under an Atomic bomb – Trinitite

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Trinitite is the glassified or sintered sand below the Trinity blast in 1945

Trinitite is glassified soil from the Trinity site of the first atomic blast in 1945. 67 years later it is only mildly radioactive. The site is now covered and new samples are not able to be collected. Nevertheless it was only a few dollars on eBay for this 1.83 g sample. This sample is seen over the port of my pancake Geiger counter.
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Radium

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Radioluminescent watch face lit here with UV light. The phosphor no longer is bright enough to see with the Radium.

This 1930’s watch face had radium painted numerals to permanently glow in the dark. It has long stopped being visible as the phosphor degenerated. Strong UV light can still light it up but not as much as a bag of similar phosphor (activated zinc sulphide) shown here.
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Geiger Counter

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Geiger counter reading 1080 counts per minute of Gamma radiation from a number of Uranium glass marbles.

A Geiger counter measures various types of ionising radiation such as Gamma rays. Shown here with antique Uranium marbles that were bright due to some fluorescence.
“Continue reading” for a hotter Uranium sample, specifications and links…
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