Nuclear Energy/Energy Experiment

[ledzeppelin3]

Alright, for school this year I need to do an experiment having to do with either Nuclear Energy or just energy, and I have looked EVERYWHERE for 5 days and have NO ideas, maybe someone can help me?

[DV8 2XL]

Use a Geiger-counter to measure the radiation given off by some common every-day items.

 

Build a cloud-chamber from Lexan and dry ice

[ledzeppelin3]

I'll check with my teacher about that...see if the school has a Geiger counter I could use, since they are quite expensive, thanks.

[DV8 2XL]

If you ever get access to a Geiger counter, take a walk with it along a railroad track, or breakwater. Odds are in less than an hour, you'll find some VERY hot chunks of ore bearing granite.

[jdurg]

One thing to also remember is that a Geiger counter may go crazy and start crackling like crazy, but a Geiger counter only detects a decay event and not the strength of the event. If you have a sample that is decaying rapidly but giving off low energy emissions it is much less dangerous than a sample that decays a bit slower but emits higher energy radiation. The Geiger counter may make something seem like it is really "hot" and "dangerous", but in reality the energy being given off is incredibly small.

 

I recently came upon this website which is the first site I've ever seen that breaks down a samples radioactive decay by the energy level of the associated decay. I had always heard of Uranium-238 decaying and giving off alpha and gamma rays with a decay energy of 4.xx MeV which is a pretty damned high number. I did NOT know, however, that the gamma energy given off by the decay is amazingly low. The alpha particles have the high energy and the gamma rays given off are pretty low in energy. I must say that DV8 2XL is correct in that the leaded casing is a bit of overkill for the storage of a depleted uranium sample.

[DV8 2XL]

True, but (thinking from a kid's POV for a moment) nothing makes the dummies jump like waving the probe over a set of five nondescript rocks and having the counter roar near one of them.

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

You could also get a cheap dosimeter off of eBay and measure the background radiation of various places.

[Caver451]

*chuckles*

 

You can order small samples of uranium ore online. That will get the geiger counter hopping. You can also buy a container of potassium chloride "salt substitute" from the supermarket. That is also mildly radioactive. Remember, just making a geiger counter jump is easy--explaining why it is jumping is the hard part, and that is what is going to get you the grade.

 

How about researching radiometric dating? It's an interesting topic, in my opinion, and since it isn't as "sexy" as other topics--fission reactors and such--it would probably be a pleasant surprise for your instructor. It's especially nice because it is generally non-political.

 

-Caver

[DV8 2XL]

How about researching radiometric dating? It's an interesting topic, in my opinion, and since it isn't as "sexy" as other topics--fission reactors and such--it would probably be a pleasant surprise for your instructor. It's especially nice because it is generally non-political.Caver

 

I don't know about the non-political part. In some parochial schools it would be waving a red cape. The Earths only ~6000 yrs. old for some people - and they are not partial to evidence to the contrary.

[Ferdinand]

The mantles used in gas lamps are also radioactive. Thorium Oxide coatings?

[jdurg]

The mantles used in gas lamps are also radioactive. Thorium Oxide coatings?

 

 

Not the modern ones. They quit using thorium oxide back in the late 1970's I believe.

[DV8 2XL]

Found this on homemade cloud chambers. If you can't get hold of a GC you might want to try this.

 

http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?SID=mail&articleID=0005C4AD-1E94-1C71-84A9809EC588EF21

 

He claims it costs less than $30 to put together.

 

Or the so-called diffusion cloud chambers which require little more than dry ice and isopropyl alcohol. Cheaper and easier than the above.