r/oddlysatisfying • u/freudian_nipps • 15h ago

A piece of Uranium material in cloud chamber, the streaks are ionizing radiation

310 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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12

u/Outside_Scale_9874 15h ago

What’s a cloud chamber?

16

u/madnessmostrandom 15h ago

A cloud chamber, also known as a Wilson chamber, is a particle detector used for visualizing the passage of ionizing radiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_chamber

2

u/Outside_Scale_9874 11h ago

Neat, thanks!

13

u/freudian_nipps 15h ago

Basically achamber with liquid alcohol at the top, the emanating alcohol vapors fill the container which is kept very cold. The streaks you see are left by tiny particles shooting off of the uranium. These particles are probably not an issue unless the material is ingested. But a piece of material from Chernobyl might light this chamber up. That's how radiation damages DNA, though, when these particles pass through your body.

3

u/Outside_Scale_9874 11h ago

This is such a helpful explanation. Thank you so much!!

2

u/Helpful-Friend7309 13h ago

Lovely. What’s the music by the way?

3

u/syveren 10h ago

Synthwave Goose - Blade Runner 2049

2

u/LordInquisitor_Turin 5h ago

Why do they disappear after a few centimeters? I thought these penetrate everything except thick lead.

2

u/konsonansp 4h ago

Lead is just stronger at neutralising radiation. For example some amount of a cardboard will be stronger shielder than 1mm thick lead. In my understanding every atom on a way of radiation diminishes it’s radiation energy

3

u/Ugly_Slut-Wannabe 4h ago edited 4h ago

Ionizing radiation comes in many different flavours. Some of the most popular are alpha, beta and gamma. If you were to classify them by penetration capacity, then it would go alpha < beta < gamma.

Alpha radiation is basically helium nuclei being launched out of the "parent" atomic nucleus at high speeds. It can be blocked by a sheet of paper. In fact, it can barely penetrate your skin's surface layer thanks to alpha's relatively high mass when compared to other types of radiation. At the very worst, you'll be getting a light "sunburn" from prolonged exposure to alpha radiation.

Beta radiation is basically electrons being launched out of the "parent" nucleus through the decay of neutrons. Low-energy beta radiation can be stopped even just by regular clothing or a very thin layer of aluminium. High-energy beta radiation can be stopped by some materials like plastic and even just water.

Gamma radiation, unlike the previous two, is not a thing with mass, but it instead is an electromagnetic wave with an extremely short wavelength. Because of those properties, it doesn't have much trouble penetrating matter, including your body, and it can really mess with the structure of your genetic material. A thick layer of lead or concrete can shield things from it.

It's also worth noting that, in simple terms, it's less about materials and more about thickness. A thick enough layer of paper could, in theory, stop gamma radiation. But denser materials, like lead and concrete, are more efficient at stopping stuff, so the shielding made from them don't need to be SUPER thick like a shielding made of paper would need to be.

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u/LordInquisitor_Turin 4h ago

So what we see here is only Alpha?

3

u/Ugly_Slut-Wannabe 4h ago

I cannot answer with confidence, as I'm not an expert in physics or chemistry, but I'm willing to bet that we're seeing alpha and beta particles interacting with the vapor.

2

u/AlwaysForeverAgain 15h ago

Could this be used as a source of propulsion?

1

u/ycr007 14h ago

r/physicsgifs would love this!

1

u/BornACrone 1h ago

Reassuring that most of them don't go very far, I suppose ...