Category Archives: radiation

A Brief History of Radioactivity

Posted on May 1, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

More than one hundred years ago, Henri Becquerel discovered that uranium emitted penetrating rays similar to those used by Wilhelm Röntgen to take the first X-ray image (of his wife’s hand), starting a new era of far-reaching applications. There are of course many dangers that come with the use of radioactivity, but there are also many beneficial uses for our society.

WHAT IS RADIOACTIVITY

The nucleus of an atom is made of protons and neutrons. Because protons have positive charge, they repel each other, so there must be a force that holds the nucleus together, and the neutrons don’t help, …read more

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Posted in Curated, history, nuclear, radiation, radioactivity, radioisotope, radium girls | Leave a comment

Heat Shrink Tubing and the Chemistry Behind Its Magic

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

There’s a lot to be said in favor of getting kids involved in hacking as young as possible, but there is one thing about working in electronics that I believe is best left as a mystery until at least the teenage years — hide the shrink tube. Teach them to breadboard, have them learn resistor color codes and Ohm’s Law, and even teach them to solder. But don’t you dare let them near the heat shrink tubing. Foolishly reveal that magical stuff to kids, and if there’s a heat source anywhere nearby I guarantee they’ll blow through your entire stock …read more

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Posted in chemistry hacks, Featured, heat shrink, Interest, Original Art, Paul Cook, radiation, radiochemistry, shrink tubing | Leave a comment

Mood Lamp Also Warns of Nuclear Catastrophe

Posted on March 23, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

[Michal Zalewski] has radiation on the brain. Why else would he gut a perfectly-horrible floor lamp, rebuild the entire thing with high-power RGB LEDs, and then drive it with a microcontroller that is connected up to a Geiger-Müller tube? Oh right, because it also looks very cool, and Geiger tubes are awesome.

If you’ve been putting off your own Geiger tube project, and we know you have, [Michal]’s detailed explanation of the driver circuit and building one from scratch should help get you off the couch. Since a Geiger tube needs 400 volts DC, some precautions are necessary here, and …read more

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Posted in decor, furniture, geiger counter, Geiger tube, misc hacks, radiation | Leave a comment

Roam the Wastelands with this Fallout-Themed Mini Geiger Counter

Posted on March 16, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

For anyone who has worked with radioactive materials, there’s something that’s oddly comforting about the random clicks of a Geiger counter. And those comforting clicks are exactly why we like this simple pocket Geiger counter.

Another good reason to like [Tim]’s build is the Fallout theme of the case. While not an item from the game, the aesthetic he went for with the 3D-printed case certainly matches the Fallout universe. The counter itself is based on the popular Russian SBT-11A G-M tubes that are floating around eBay these days. You might recall them from coverage of this minimalist Geiger counter, …read more

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Posted in Fallout, geiger counter, geiger-muller, misc hacks, pipboy, radiation, radioactive, tool hacks | Leave a comment

Soviet Era Smoke Detector Torn Down, Revealing Plutonium

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Fernando Gomes

It’s widely known that a smoke detector is a good ionizing radiation source, as they contain a small amount of americium-241, a side product of nuclear reactors. But what about other sources? [Carl Willis] got hold of an old Soviet era smoke detector and decided to tear it down and see what was inside. This, as he found out, isn’t something you should do lightly, as the one he used ended up containing an interesting mix of radioactive materials, including small amounts of plutonium-239, uranium-237, neptunium-237 and a selection of others. In true hacker fashion, he detected these with a …read more

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Posted in misc hacks, nuclear, radiation, radioactive, smoke detector, soviet, teardown, Yikes | Leave a comment