A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#1

Post by maurycyz » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 6:34 PM UTC

A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity
maurycyz.com

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#2

Post by dvh » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:24 PM UTC

I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#3

Post by kergonath » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:31 PM UTC

dvh wrote: post #2

I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.

Potassium-40 is not an alpha emitter.

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#4

Post by fecal_henge » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

kergonath wrote: post #3

dvh wrote: post #2

I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.

Potassium-40 is not an alpha emitter.

Maybe he used banana as the scintillator.

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#5

Post by DetroitThrow » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:35 PM UTC

kergonath wrote: post #3

dvh wrote: post #2

I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.

Potassium-40 is not an alpha emitter.

That's unrelated. He's been diligently substituting bananas in many experiments to mostly disappointment.

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#6

Post by lukasschwab » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC

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!

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#7

Post by thadt » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:51 PM UTC

dvh wrote: post #2

I tried the same with bananas. Got nothing.

Bananas are like XML that way. If you're not getting the results you want, you're just not using enough of them.

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#8

Post by lukan » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:55 PM UTC

lukasschwab wrote: post #6

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!

Well, google for "DIY cloud chamber" did result in quite some entries. Apart from youtube channels, with the first entry a guide from CERN:

https://home.cern/news/news/experiments/how-make-your-own-cl...

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#9

Post by alnwlsn » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 7:58 PM UTC

lukasschwab wrote: post #6

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!

This can be done at home with a little effort. Less effort if you can get dry ice easily.

https://hackaday.com/2019/01/13/see-the-radioactive-world-wi...

Re: A sea of sparks: Seeing radioactivity

#10

Post by Yenrabbit » Mon, Mar 30, 2026, 8:01 PM UTC

lukasschwab wrote: post #6

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!

You can easily make them at home (source, I did last weekend!).

- Dry ice (mine came from something shipped cold)

- Dark piece of metal (I used a 3D printer hot bed) on top of dry ice to get cold

- IPA vapour (I poured some on a shop towel)

- Some transparent container to house it all - I found a glass display cube on the side of the road, fish tanks or Tupperware also work.

- Torch or something to provide side lighting

Very cool to see evidence of the particles zooming around us, can highly recommend.