(auto-) radiography of pitchblende uranium ore on x-ray film

skip the explanation to 4:32 for immediately viewing the results.
i am using a polished piece of very hot pitchblende uranium ore to expose an x-ray film... with great results!
using plastic as well as x-ray intensifying screen as a "shield", i am comparing the results with a "bare" exposure. i am also comparing the results of a 20 hours vs. a 4 hours exposure. additionally, i am demonstrating an autoradiography on photographic paper.

[@bionerd23]

@NoWattz not necessary phosphor, yeah, but phosphors (as wikipedia says, phosphor is a "substance that exhibits the phenomenon of luminescence"). like, a combination of rare-earth elements, as in my screen... they do convert a single x-ray photon to a couple of light photons, increasing the exposure of the film from the same x-ray dose very much. by the way, rare earth elements are the "lanthanoids" on the periodic table.

[@bionerd23]

@twycross3 how would the alpha particles / helium atoms get INTO the vacuum tube, though? ;)

[@bionerd23]

@insignificance no, you cant see any flashes. however, especially the lens of the eye is VERY sensitive to radiation (exposure can lead to fogging of the lens), so i do NOT recommend anybody to look directly at hot sources of e.g. pitchblende for a prolonged time. just because it's in the exempt quantities and legal to have, doesnt mean it's completely HARMLESS... you always ought to know what you're doing, even with just a bleach cleaning agent, for example. =)

[@bionerd23]

@mcjhn yeah, radon can become trapped in the rock. uranium has a half-life of 4.5 billion years, so it's indeed not very radioactive, but - as you said - the daughters are. the most short-lived isotope down the uranium-radium decay chain is polonium 214 with a half life of just about 160 microseconds!

[@bionerd23]

@megamarko94 it's impossible to state a general CPM (counts per minute) that is dangerous, as that depends on the sensitivity of the measuring device. like, on the SAME piece of radioactive material, my gamma scout may read 200 CPM, a large pancake probe may read 5000 CPM, and a scintillation counter may read 40000 CPM. the resulting aequivalent dose (rem) is a matter of CALIBRATION of the device and can thus not be generalized...

[@bionerd23]

@michalchik i already have one, thanks. lead aprons for use with x-ray equipment (max. 120 kV) are absolutely useless with the high-energy gammas of uranium ore. there's a link to my flickr photostream on my channel page; just search for "lead apron vs. uranium ore" there. lead bricks help, though (i use those for storage), but yeah, i'm not going to wear twice my own body weight in lead while handling the stuff, you're absolutely right about that one!

[@ALARAiswise]

Thats a beautiful piece of sawn pitchblende . A large slab of that would make a perfect kitchen worktop and would keep the food nice and warm, lol. Yes, I certainly hope lots of water was used on the cutting tool for that !!!

[@Cryndyne]

Good exparements, but what protection do you have from geting radiation poisining? you handle a lot of radioactive material? i am not flaming i am just cureious?

[@bionerd23]

@fart1fart1 i dont know how to disable the light on a scanner, as shedding light on something and then measuring the reflections with the photo diodes is the purpose of a scanner. o_O apart from that, it might in theory work with those sensors as well, hmmm.

[@chemistryscuriosities]

Would you ever consider selling or trading minerals?

[@Doppelbuckel]

Where do you get such hot rocks?

[@bionerd23]

@83CyborgX1 i should probably add that the limit for exposure to e.g. staff in nuclear power plants is 20 mSv/a in my country, and 50 mSv/a e.g. in the USA... that'll give you a rough comparison.

[@bionerd23]

@thelleht in theory, maybe. you'd either need a strong source or a very, very long exposure, though. that pitchblende seen here is NOT a strong source. 10 sievert/hour are a "strong source" (that'd be the amount of exposure you get from an x-ray tube). but yeah, you should be able to see a rough shape, anyway. there's an example on my flickr photostream; the link to my flickr is on my youtube channel page. once there, just type "doom's ray art" into the search box.

[@franglish9265]

Would this work with Cyanotype film? What kind of photographic paper did you use?

[@bionerd23]

@83CyborgX1 ok, there are many question that basically ask this same thing; i'll just reply to this one as it has a positive rating of two thumbs up, lol. anyway, yeah, i have a rough eye on my dose. depends what i am doing exactly, e.g. during my tc-99m thyroid scan, my exposure was higher, but i'm usually receiving approximately 5-6 mSv/a at the very maximum. this includes non-hobby / non-private activities, too.

[@bionerd23]

@10mintwo nah, definitely not, sorry. it would be bright enough to run and display live radiographies with an x-ray tube, though, but's that's a whole different story and a *truely* dangerously high level of radiation (we'd be talking about 10 sieverts (!!) per hour and up - not some low-level microsievert range, as the displayed pitchblende is)... so i cannot do that at home, sorry. might be able to record that at the lab some time though, i'll keep it in the back of my head.

[@bionerd23]

@83CyborgX1 that's why radioisotopes like that come in sealed plastic source disks for "playing around" (experimentation). i wouldnt want to have my Cs-137 or Sr-90 around in a powder, either! those substances behave like potassium (Cs) and calcium (Sr), and thus, e.g. migrate to the bone. no thanks! i'd like an exempt quantity of plutonium in a sealed source disk, though. that'd be completely harmless, as the exempt quantity is minor, too.

[@josephastier7421]

A spicy rock!

[@mrphanidhar89]

Many thanks for filming.

[@Pickelhaube808]

damn... i wonder if she has two heads, 7 arms and 31 fingers...

[@cipndale]

I wonder if you have one head to start wondering.

[@josephastier7421]

Of course, why do you ask?

[@CyberspacedLoner]

Radiation across the Nation

[@vk2zay]

Maybe try again with a strip of aluminium foil across part of the film? That's a pretty nice specimen, I hope whoever cut and polished it did it wet!

[@phoenix3318]

I'm wondering what chemistry you used to develop the x-ray film in? Regular B+W developer, or something else?

[@bionerd23]

@amatomicX thanks a lot for the thorough info! yeah, i dont know *exactly* what is in mine, either, lol. it's just called a "rare-earth green x-ray intensifying screen". :P

[@electricsupercars1978]

I want to buy this mineral autunite from you? for how much you sell?

[@helehole]

@IvandowsOS hard to transport due to the extreme heat and radioctivity xD

[@chemistryscuriosities]

Would this work with Torbernite or Autunite?

[@twycross3]

Love the video bionerd :-)!! I would love to see you do a video of an alpha emitter near a evacuated tube and then after so many days see how much helium built up in the tube.

[@bionerd23]

@IvandowsOS try the russian black market. plutonium is in the list of exempt quantities for my country, though, so i want a picogram of it, please, while you're at it. :P

[@bionerd23]

@10mintwo LMAO, that was quite awesome. especially that rap song, haha. thanks! =)

[@howardlitson9796]

This is Uraninite Rock.

[@Muonium1]

Yaaaay! Radioactive crazyness videos are back!!! Is the image intensifier screen bright enough to do a real time fluoroscope-like video with your camera? That would be neat. I can't believe how many noobish questions you're still getting about 'ZOMG teh radiation poisonings, ahhhhh!!! '.

[@helehole]

@snipesnrifles yeah, but under a short time and very small amounts of uranium shouln't do any harm

[@83CyborgX1]

I saw most of your videos now, and well ... you play around with radioactive stuff very often... do you have an eye on your dose?

[@kenhtonghop1911]

How much money 1kg

[@supressorgrid]

We could build highways with this, save on salt in winter...

[@Nater_Tater]

is that active enough to cause you harm? just sounds creepy to be that close to it...

[@galbro480261]

where can u get this stuff at?

[@michalchik]

I am very tempted to buy you a lead apron but I doubt you would wear it.

[@Phacias]

@bionerd23 I would even not hesitate to add how radiant you were there :)

[@yaykruser]

thats so cool😮

[@kenhtonghop1911]

Quantity

[@kenhtonghop1911]

Pure

[@ArtyContact]

Можно флюорографию на дому делать....

[@hero9402]

Damn I'm looking at this after 9 years lol. Isn't it dangerous to be around?

[@lennihaapala8169]

no

[@twycross3]

@bionerd23 As I understand it the glass tube is so thin that the alpha rays could penetrate and then on the inside of the tube is an negative electric field that neutralizes the positive charge on the alpha rays. They then become helium and stay inside the tube. Once the helium has built up enough (which might take a while) you could put a high voltage through it to make the helium glow in the tube.

[@Phacias]

3:36 In a darkroom You say... ;p

[@83CyborgX1]

@10mintwo ton quantities? *ROFL* Do you know about Critical Mass??? (Pt 239: 10kg) ... I guess there will be a big boom, when you try to transport a ton at once X-D

[@bionerd23]

@Phacias you're quite kinky, lol. now, would you go to a darkroom with me if i said i could make you glow with radiance...?

[@IvandowsOS]

i want to buy 1 kilo of plutonium

[@josephastier7421]

Minimum order is 10 kg.

[@zagnit]

Gee this sure seems unhealthy....

[@Muonium1]

Bionerd, I saw a video recently, and, well, I'm worried about you. I'm worried that you......oh god it's so hard to say this, but I'm worried that you might.....well...that you might be a 'toper. Please, there's real assistance for your problem out there if you need it bionerd, we're here to help!!!! /watch?v=ED3qoGEiWcU

[@Димадулевич]

i didn't understand any freaken word(

[@borisbellone5833]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/infMZpWCp8d1gJY una radiografia o meglio gammagrafia con un campione di pechblenda di Marie Curie

[@Muonium1]

@IvandowsOS o, ok, do you want 238 or 239? Plz provide bank account # so I can withdraw teh needed fundz at will. Also I only deal in ton quantities; is that ok? lolz.

[@Ragnar1001]

753 µSv/h O_o