Mystery RADIOACTIVE Source | Can we identify it?
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- Опубликовано: 15 май 2024
- How do you identify an unknown, radioactive element using affordable tools? I am faced with this challenge from an unlabeled radioactive source. It is radioactive, but what makes it radioactive?
In this video, I use a range of tests in an attempt to identify the radioisotope. Including paper, magnets and a gamma spectrometer.
Will I figure it out or will the source remain a mystery?
Radiacode 103 dosimeter and gamma spectrometer donated by Radiacode.com: 103.radiacode.com/
They have a RUclips-channel too, including a video of their new manufacturing lab in Cyprus: • Inside RadiaCode
My Patreon-page: / brainiac75
Links to other of my related videos:
Mushrooms and Radiacode 101: • Radioactive Mushrooms ...
SD Card vs. Radioactivity | Data Loss?: • SD Card vs. Radioactiv...
Monster magnet meets monitors (featuring Left Hand Rule): • Monster magnet meets m...
Did you miss one of my videos?: / brainiac75
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"Darkness is Coming" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Intro part looped by me.
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"Perspectives" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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Time code: 4:45
"Hiding Your Reality" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Energizing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Lightless Dawn" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Ossuary 6 - Air" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Ossuary 6 - Air" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Part from 2:34 in the music track.
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All music above licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Time code: 8:36
Mix of two tracks:
1) The Shimmering by fran_ky (freesound.org/s/237363)
Licensed under Creative Commons 0 license
2) "Spacial Harvest" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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#radioactive #radiacode #geiger 
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I recognized the device immediately. It is a EC cell from a gas chromatography machine. They have a rather spicy source of pure beta emission, about 25mCi or so. The isotope used is Ni-63. Your geiger counter is responsive to the x rays it emits. Use a thin window tube and it will easily swamp it ❤
I think this comment needs more likes since the device itself was recognized^^
That's it! Those things are incredibly spicy and are normally shielded
Used for the detection of electronegative compounds (chlorine, bromine found in pesticides), diacetyl in beer and sulfur hexaflouride in greenhouse gas
i can only talk for Agilent uECD detectors, those have a Ni-63 plated ring with 555MBq activity
I've handled Ni-63 sources for gas analysis devices. The source in the vid is showing far too much penetrating betas to be Ni-63. The betas were also too soft to be Sr/Y-90, so that can be ruled out too. Must be a beta emitter with intermediate energy (eg C-14) but I have no clue what isotope tbh. But from my hands on experience with Sr/Y-90 and Ni-63, I don't think it could be either of them
@@609keV Interesting. Certainly if onwe bothers to watch the whole video then the EC cell origin seems almost impossible to accept. I have never seen such an arrangement described nor can I think of any reason for such a detector to have 3 sources of different activities.
Trying to approximate high-level things using home equipment is always a joy. Thanks for posting this video!
Thanks for watching! I'm just an amateur that has to make do with the things I have available - and it's not a complete radiation lab :) May have to figure out how to make a beta spectrometer out of electromagnets but will likely need a confirmed source to calibrate it... Ah well, let's see what the future brings :)
Yup it is a 25 Mili-curie source or 63 Ni from an agilent GC machine. A smoke detector has a microcurie in contrast, so about 25,000 smoke detectors worth of activity. The isotope used is a pure beta emitter, you ended up with the bremstralllung x rays on your spectrometer.
@@brainiac75But does it taste like Strontium 90?
@@brainiac75 if there is a calibrated taste test associated with these elements, you could fly me out and have me do it, i'll happily eat the radioactive metals for science
My thought as well, saved "cheating" (spectrometer) until the end. The magnet test was interesting.
It would be cool to see this setup in a vapor chamber especially when radiation was being defected by the magnets
Yes!! I wonder why he skipped that part to be honest
Aim 2 sources at each other like in superhero movies. Cross the streams like in Ghostbusters!
Excellent information! I come from India I.e.Bharat. I am interested in these radiation detecting devices. I just wonder about their accuracy in judging the energies of the radiation.Thank you.
If possible, please have a session on this issue?
@@DreStyle he's also ignoring this comment string so guess he doesn't want to deal with it
Good afternoon! As an engineer at RadiaCode, I would like to thank you for your interesting research. In Russia, strontium-90 sources are quite well known, and their spectra look exactly different. I assume you have a lead-210 source. Low energy beta radiation and gamma radiation peaks at 46 kev.
I bought the 102 right before the 103 came out .wish I would have waited but didn't know. Great product ..you guys did a amazing job.
@@Desertprophit83 Give my comment some likes so the author can see my guess - that would be a very big thank you to me)
@EugeneWorldPositiv there is no one to get the 103 by trading the 102 and paying a difference? Yes you are welcome!! You guys are great .
@@Desertprophit83 I'm an engineer, sales is handled by the other guys.....
Yes, I think it's Pb-210 too. Great observation
“Who shot an electron over here, this amplitude is suspicious!” - Brainiac, physics detective
11:36 I like how that device/phone goes full on Discord Alert Meme when it detects high levels of radiation. 😂
Ikr 🤣🤣🤣
Whoever made the alarm just grabbed every alarm sound effect they could find and threw it together and called it a day.
It definitely is Pb-210. The 47 keV peak ist the gamma line of Pb-210 and 12 keV is the XRF L-Line of lead. I will send you an E-Mail with more information.
I always respect your focus on safety. Another great video. Thanks.
good work sir! a beta scintillation unit is a bit more complicated and you`ll need a scintillation cocktail. I have a couple videos and I`ll share the Strontium 90 spectrum if you`re interested! Thank you for your time and well made videos!
Thanks :) Will watch your videos and I am interested in your Sr-90 spectrum . Though I can google it - Sr-90 has been researched extensively ;) I don't know much about beta spectroscopy yet, but do know it isn't as easy and definitive as gamma spectroscopy. Mostly because of the wide range of energies - not just a narrow peak :/ But could be fun to try.
@@brainiac75would it be worthwhile to do a bremstralung spectrograph?
You can make a gamma rejecting beta spectrometer probe out of a thin crystal of CeYAG and a sensitive photodiode. A naked pin type photodiode works rather well too.❤
You know what I love about your videos, Brian?
-Your enthusiasm and devotion to your viewers and Patreons
-Your passion for knowledge and wanting us to be interested and entertained
-A constant effort to bring quality content to RUclips
I spy a peak at 47keV! The source is most likely Pb-210. It matches the description perfectly, in terms of half life and decay profile. I've never seen a Pb-210 foil source before, so that's pretty awesome. It also means there is Bi-210 and Po-210 present in the sample, in secular equilibrium with the Pb-210. The Bi-210 is responsible for the penetrating betas (which are still not quite penetrating enough to be Sr/Y-90). If you have any other information about the device it came from, I'd be very interested. I would also love to see a follow up video to find out whether it REALLY is Pb-210 (I'm 99% sure, but it would be cool to collect some conclusive data)
You could generate an energy spectrum for the electrons by bending them in a magnetic field. Could cast a block of acrylic with a bent path with a known radius, place the source on one end and the detector at the other. Then slowly increase the strength of the magnetic field and graph the intensity of counts as a function of magnetic field strength. Which can later be used to calculate the energy with the radius of the curve.
Could we not place the magnets in a fixed location in front of the source, then measure the radiation deflected to different angles? Not sure how we would calibrate it, but different energy levels passing through a fixed magnetic field should travel different trajectories wouldn't they?
@@mikefochtman7164 those are two ways of doing it, one is increasing how much the beta curves, essentially changing where the particles end up, basically moving the radiation, your idea is moving the detector, both could probably work.
11:23 I like that the geiger counter is like AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA when you put it on the smoke alarm.
I love learning, and you make it so easy to learn about things I didn't even know existed 10 minutes ago. Have a good new years, everyone!
Neat! I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest nickel-63 as that’s a pure beta emitter with maximum energy of 67keV and a half-life of around 100 years, 90Sr and its immediate decay product 90Y have much higher energy beta emissions, max. 585keV for strontium and something like 2.2MeV max for the yttrium.
Yes! The beta energy doesn’t seem to right for Sr90 source.
Absolutely correct, however my experience with Ni-63 tells me this source cannot be that either (Ni-63 betas are only detectable on a GM counter from a distance of a few cm, and would be almost completely stopped by paper)
Edit: it's Pb-210!
Very interesting and thought-provoking video, as always!
I love your videos. I love science like this, and the calming nature of the video, it actually helps me sleep with PTSD. Thank you for making these videos.
This was a awesome video ! It's cool to be able to hunt and narrow down the spectrum of possibilities using home equipment and it's pretty interesting.
Love this video Brian, keep up the good work.
Wild ride man. Good video. And it turned out to be one of my favorite elements.
Thanks for the video and thanks for the comment engagement.
And thanks for showing us stuff that's not really something a regular person will ever see or know about.
No problem. You always watch and comment early where I am most likely to reply ;) I wouldn't have this source without a kind, local viewer helping me out. Glad to experience and share some unusual stuff. More to come in 2024!
@@brainiac75 Looking forward. And yeah your stuff is great. Presented in a nice calm manner, no brain-numbing ticdummy screaming nonsense... and those huge monster magnets are very scary. Respect for handling those and not having lost a finger yet.
Consistently high quality content. Thank you for this video.
Wow, the fact that this research can be done in a kitchen lab is very cool. Nice analysis! Happy new year!
A certain someone has made a very memorable way to remember the left hand rule:
_Middle finger is for B-Field_
_The thumb is reserved for Force!_
_The index finger is for Current_
_You hold those fingers in this pose!_
_If two fingers match the vectors_
_You'll know where the third one goes!_
No joke, I wrote that from memory.
but the left hand thing is always right hmmmm
Why can I hear this comment
In the Navy's Basic Electricity & Electronics, we were always taught electron flow, so we used the right-hand rule. And we had a.... ahem... more colorful way of remembering thumb-forefinger-middlefinger for Motion-Flux-Current (electron current, not conventional).
Hello there, the left-hand rule is as follows: The thumb shows the current flow, the index finger indicates the direction of the lines of force, and the middle finger indicates the force action.
If the source emits negatively charged particles and the particles are also moving from left to right (according to the shown emitting direction of the radiation source), the direction of the lines of force of the magnetic field must point towards you (the arrowhead points out of the plane of the screen - north pole is facing up), and the particles are forced to move away from the "Geiger-Counter"; hence, no values are measured.
The opposite is true when the north pole is facing down. All charged particles are detected by the Geiger-Counter, while the current flow points in the same direction; hence, the device can detect radiation.
For anyone wondering, the Radiacode 103 is 299 euros (~330 USD). Not a bad price.
Honestly this just makes me wish I converted usd to eu when eu came about. I’d have so much more buying power in such a bs & fiscal financial roulette.
I got a 102 earlier in the year. Neat units.
@CatCow97 I got a 102 the day before they announced the 103, and that made me cry
@The-One-and-Only100 same here ,but they are not that much different. But I understand I wanted the best too..I bought a raysid 7% resolution gamma spectrometer. My favorite.
Everyone should own one so we can log the progression of the nuclear death cults pollution. Especially now seeing as how they are rebuilding nuclear stockpiles with east facing west again. I won't be surprised when they go back to setting off nuclear tests in Nevada, which they only stopped in the mid 1990's due to Bill Clinton having to appologise for pregnant women being injected with plutonium isotopes.
my man still going strong, ive been here since maybe around the elements vs magnet series, cheers mate
Never seen this channel but as soon as I saw the total I immediately thought of Radiacode
I love educational physics videos like this- even though I went through multiple university physics classes, you can never stop learning and reviewing. It’s a very humbling topic, I’ll never forget my last physics final haha. You got yourself a new subscriber!
Oh boy, you have a hell of a back catalog to catch up with now!
@@ziginox For sure!!!
Wow, this is an impressive video! You did a very thorough job here :) And everything was explained very clearly, this is a seriously difficult subject to follow. This video could be useful in science classes!
Most of this was so far over my head that I just enjoyed the dulcet tones of brainiac's voice.
This video goes well with hash.
This one was awesome! A treat the whole way through and a fun ride.
Very neat, using different shield materials to showcase what particles are or aren't being emitted. 👍
Very, very interesting! :)
Already looking forward to the next Videos about these samples! ^^
Thanks, JustPyro! I don't post videos about radioactivity that often. Mostly to follow the ALARA principle... But I have more radiation videos planned.
According to the kind viewer, the strongest source measures 77 µSv/h on the RadiaCode 101. Around 275 times stronger than the shown - not sure I'm ready to borrow that :-O
@@brainiac75that's quite hot. Especially given the fact that the radiacode isn't all that sensitive to betas unless they're very hard. I would love to know the isotope and exact activity, since the source certainly isn't Sr-90. Hot stuff!
Thank You for awesome videos, been watching You for years :)
Glad you like them and keep watching. Otherwise I wouldn't have continued for so long :) More to come in 2024!
Interesting video, I love seeing the radioactive stuff. You said there were two other samples in the unit, do you think you could make a video showcasing those? Maybe a low-effort patreon release, so it doesn’t need all the glitz and glam of a RUclips upload?
DIY radioisotope forensics! Excellent!
Love how professional you got!!
Your videos are so in depth and explaining alot
It's a surprise you didn't grew bigger than you are!
Thank you so much for all the things I've learn so far from you
Especially radiation which is my faforite subject ❤
I remember a dust removing tool for LP records and tone arm cartridges that used Polonium 210 and fine carbon fibers to remove dust and neutralize static charges on the records. As I recall, and this was 45 - 55 years ago, the Polonium was alloyed with gold. I have no idea of the activity of the source as this was long before I was working in Radiation Safety.
I was working with isotope sources for industrial radiography from 1975 to 2003, and was the Radiation Safety Officer for an inspection lab in Rochester, NY for almost 20 years. My sources were Ir192 and Co60 with sources between 30 and 110 curies. Not lightweights at all! Retired now and don't worry about my whole body exposures anymore...
I'm about halfway through and if this isn't Sr-90 I'll be surprised, since Co-60 also emits gamma radiation and I can't think of any orher pure beta source.
My guess at 1:48 is Nickel isotope. In chemistry there’s a gas chromatograph detector that is a nickel isotope.
Pu-238?
@@loberd09 yep I'm also wondering if it's Ni63
@@Yaivenov Ahem, you mixed up alpha and beta emitters. Pu-238 is a strong alpha emitter. Also, due to that decay happening it turns into U-234, which then also emits an alpha and decays into Ra-226, which is the first beta minus emitter along that decay chain. HOWEVER, this can't be it, as the Radon would seep out of the alloy in this case, so Pu-238 would not have been chosen in this case due to that, also, Plutonium isotopes are way more expensive.
@@loberd09not Ni-63, but good guess
My interpretation suggests its a Sr90/Y90 beta source: the type that is quite popular in chamber-type European rad detectors with self cal sources. Also, depending on the scale on your pocket spectrometer (which might actually be a room temp solid state detector (versus a true scintillator/avalanche photodiode)) I suspect what you are seeing is a whole bunch of relaxation and primary X-ray from any thing in the local target materials). best regards, DKB
I liked your inquiry, thank you 👍
A fine bit of 'detective work', with a sound discussion of different forms of radiation and how to discriminate among each.
have you found that wood wedges leave splinters between the magnet and the frame? i'm partial to using nylon wedges because they seem to hold up better. either way, i love seeing the wedge method for placing the magnets. i learned the hard way that magnets bite when i was younger haha. i was lucky that i was only using 1 inch cube neodymium magnets so i didn't lose a finger
When learning, it should be mandatory to mess up when it's safe. Getting painfully pinched is probably a good way to learn to respect magnets.
I'm also thinking about PPE with chemistry. Having something harmless splash directly into your eye is probably quite a good way to learn that you should always wear safety glasses.
At least it's way better than learning the lesson with something seriously dangerous.
Really cool! Would like more videos like this!
I love my Radiacode 103, itt came this past weekend I've been having a lot of fun with it.
Great video💪 Happy new year
Well damn. I was sure it was cobalt 60 until that gamma spectroscopy. Excellent video, glad the algorithm pointed it my way!
Sorry I didn't get to view this when it went up. Was very ill. Thanks for giving me something to look forward to
I have a 103, and I LOVE it! I've even recommended some modifications to it that the company has implemented.
And now they have a newer model, the 103G that they are introducing on May 20, 2024.
Damm, these deductions skills use good logic. Finally watching you after a long time. it was fun to use my brain like that. Thanks
Not only several discriminating tests, but I like how you showed your hypothesis (Sr-90) against each observation and tested if the hypothesis withstood the evidence from the observation.
This was a lot of fun to watch, and to be educated.
This guys logo is the best designed, the intro is a good idea
Cool. Thanks for sharing.
Amazing work 👏👍👍👍👍
Cool detective work
Yep, this was fun to make. I usually know the mineral or radioelement of a sample before starting. Not this time :D
Simply outstanding!👍👍 Laser diode💥
I am currently studying physics, and last semester I tried to perform the experiment of deflecting a beam of radioactive particles, using strong electric fields, with no correlation between the voltage between the plates that generated said field and the counts per minute. Thanks to your video, I can now conclude that the probable cause of my failure was the use of a homemade collimator, for lack of a better option, which resulted in a beam not focused on the detector, rather than the absence of an electric field stronger enough.
"making Sr-90 a relitively safe source" I never think of Sr-90 as safe!
This video just costed me €300 😊.
Great content as always Brian.
Nice radioactive detective work. You should make a video that teaches the basics of radioactivity to help us lay people. Thank you
There are two hand rules that I know of: the right-hand one is used if meaning the nominal direction of electric flow with the thumb (not sure of exact wording, sorry), the left-hand one used if meaning the direction the electrons are going to with the thumb.
In both cases the middle finger is the direction of the resulting force (or force of deflection of particles), or so I've been taught.
WOW!!! GREAT SCIENCE!
Wow . I really like isotope identify so much .
Man, this takes me back to my advanced lab physics course. We had to identify an unknown radioactive sample from its radiation
could be nickel-63 as it has a half life of 100 years instead of 29 for strontium 90, as it is used for calibration it would change much less over time
Yes, that is actually a good candidate too. Only issue, I see, is the very low energy of its betas. The max range of its strongest particles is 6.8 cm in air. Not sure that is enough for the magnet deflection test, though it isn't impossible. Really need that beta spectrometer, don't I :) Thanks for the early watch and comment!
@@brainiac75Would be really interessted in an update, once or if you get a beta spectrometer :)
@@brainiac75somebody said pb 210
I was about to say I've wanted one of the Radiacodes since the 101 but the iOS software has been "coming soon" forever but I see it's finally been released! I've had a Radiascan 701A that I bought after seeing your video that works quite well. Very tempting.
It might be worth it to pick up a cheap android phone or tablet just for radiacode use. I've been very happy with my 102, but I've always used android phones so it was an easy buy for me.
I have no idea why i watched this but then again, I have absolutely no idea how when he was naming elements at first... I guessed strontium 😂
Blew my mind at the end... Happy New Year. Apparently my mind is more in tune than I knew
Nice video !! Can you do a comparison of the 102 vs the 103 and would be cool if you got the raysid spectrometer, i have the 7% resolution.
This definitely looks like Sr-90 source. It is a pure beta emitter , and decays intto Y-90, which is also pure beta emitter. It is also common check source. But, I have just measured my Sr-90 source with Radiacode 101, and I'm only getting a single peak at around 60 keV. Considering that Radiacode is picking up bremsstrahlung, and my source is a bit spicy at around 90 uGy/h, there could be difference in spectral lines. Also, Radiacode 103 is a big improvement over 101. Measure the activity now, and then again in around 27 years, if it's half, that confirms it as strontium :D
11:25 WHOA, THAT THING YELLS
Really interesting
Great videos as alaways!
Thank you very much, 8bird. More to come in 2024!
Can you try the durability of a hard disk with radioactive material like the video that you did with the sd card? Because I remember that hard disk are more effected than a flash memory
11:03 -rips up horse racing ticket-
Man I was really thinking Co-60!
Could it be 2 isotopes, each having a peak? Also of interest, some old fluorescent lamp starters made before 2010 contain tritium for easier ionization and some ceramic metal halide lamps had krypton-85.
I've been thinking for some time now if the fire alarm can be turned into some kind of radioactivity detector, isn't there a receiver that alerts when the radiation stops?I mean, for example, replacing americium with the test sample. In the event of radioactive fallout, it would be good not to eat contaminated food, and if there was a way to find out the radiation in home, or is there any way to detect radiation without measuring devices?
Great video as always! Strontium 90 emits very high energy beta radiation which actually can be picked up by gamma scintillators and on gamma spectrum, it would show a very wide peak at around 500-600keV (I don’t remember the exact number). This leads me to believe your sample is something else but I’m really not sure what else could it be. I guess you can leave it for a few years and see how much it drops in activity and try to figure out the half life of it
Anyways, I love figuring out such radioactive riddles. Good luck!
Probably Ni-60
mysteries are pretty cool
Yep, this was a fun challenge for me. Thanks for the early watch and comment!
Love that music in the beginning from the zombie game haha
What is the detector you use that is yellow and had the alpha shield?
Brainiac never fails to teach and also entertain us at the same time. he is what school should be
Where can you get that kit on 4:46?
6:43 What was that about not puting your fingers between the magnets?
Can you show it in a cloud chamber, please?
Thanks for the video. 🙂👍
can you do video on how this is used to calibrate what, why, when?
Brainiac and toughtemporium collab could be pretty much interesting i guess.
My guess is its a specialized alloy that gives off (or at least used to) the exact correct amount of different radiations for that one specific application. My guess is a mass spectrometer will be required to know what the alloy is made of... but good luck with that
Strontium is quite air sensitive and it doesn't seem that oxidized. Maybe it is alloyed?
You could try putting it in water and see if it reacts, if so then it is definitely strontium.
A burn test would also work great if not for the radiation. There is nothing like radioactive dust in the air.
If it doesn't react with water you could try dissolving it in some HCl to still test for cobalt. If it turns purple it is cobalt.
Anyways, I loved this video and all the different tests you did!
"Strontium is quite air sensitive and it doesn't seem that oxidized"
If this whole metal bit would be Sr-90 then the radioactivity would be extreme and Brainiac would have burned his hand by going near it. Also it would probably glow and melt from its own decay heat.
This won't be a full piece of strontium-90 but a metal substrate with a tiny amount of Sr-90 fixated on its surface (we talk about nanogram). Also it isn't in its metal form but most likely a salt with Sr90 in its +II oxidation state.
My guess was Nickel-63, popular as a preionizer in krytron tubes.
What is the best way to eliminate Nickel 63 as a potential source?
The sound of a geiger counter sends chills down my spine 😳
Have considered that there may be more the one single source. Possibly behind the disc not just attached to the front. Further what is the plastic is it a poly similar to a food grade plastic bucket of a something more dense like a filled polymer like delrein with filled with glass, or something much denser like tungsten or stainless steel. I had a find of a “DU weight from a aircraft” that was had a wide range of reading that said it was a mixture of at least 6 different radioisotopes turned out to be from a full sized test bed never designed to be flown. The weight was not properly marked, because it wasn’t design to fly. My indicators of a hazardous material was the weight was higher then it should have been for the size, secondly the surface was slightly corroded with a yellow like oxide.
The person holding this item had it in his office as part of look at me display. I was suspect of the item as something odd but it had been years since my first dealings with radio active materials in college I think was giving off about 25 Sv’s the person that had this was sitting about 48” in front of this 40# weight right behind his brain. The guy was kind of weird to begin with but got kind of paranoid later?
I purchased a Radiacode 102 earlier this year; there's lots of natural radioactive minerals in my area exposed by mining and I plan to use it to find them! However my unit either escaped the factory uncalibrated or somehow lost calibration at some point. Thankfully they show you how to do this as I am no expert. Still it's good to see the unit being put to use, and hopefully when I fix my issues it'll stop picking up Lutetium all the time!
Apparently, some firmware updates require recalibration, my 101 was all over the place after one. Thankfully, it's very easy to recalibrate if you have a known source.
11:27 that sound effect LMFAO
What gagger counters that that you’re using?
technetium sprung to mind for me.
The source is from an old piece of equipment, so it's probably a mixture - down the decay chain from the original sample.
@5:07 - I have fond memories of assembling things with my erector set many, MANY years ago. This scene makes me nostalgic.
Me giving people presents at Christmas: "Hi! This is radioactive"
I have a local LLM I'm working with at home and fed it your observations, I accidently forgot to include observation 6 (your half life observations) before submitting, but the response was that it was most likely Strontium-90, below is the response keep in mind that sometimes it messes up numbers when outputting them to the reader.
Based on your observations, it seems that you have a radioisotope that emits beta minus radiation (i.e., electrons) with a small amount of gamma radiation. The radioisotope is likely embedded or alloyed in a metal flake. Here are some possible candidates for your radioisotope:
Strontium-90 (Sr-90): Strontium-90 is a beta-emitting radioisotope with a half-life of 28.8 years. It decays to Yttrium-90, emitting electrons with a maximum energy of 1.486 MeV. It has a high neutron-to-proton ratio, as you mentioned, and its beta radiation can be blocked by a 0.5 mm thick aluminum sheet. However, it doesn't match the gamma spectroscopy results you've observed, as it should have a prominent gamma peak at 5111 keV due to positron annihilation.
Iodine-132 (I-132): Iodine-132 is another beta-emitting radioisotope with a half-life of 13.2 hours. It decays to Xenon-132, emitting electrons with a maximum energy of 2.35 MeV. It is also ruled out based on the gamma spectroscopy results, as it should have a distinct gamma peak at 1592 keV.
Antimony-1224 (Sb-124): Antimony-124 is a radioisotope with a half-life of 60.9 days that decays by beta minus emission to Tellurium-124, emitting electrons with a maximum energy of 3.6 MeV. The gamma spectroscopy results do not match the expected signature for Sb-124, which should have a gamma peak at 2365 keV.
Given the observations and the fact that the radioisotope is present in three calibration sources with a large and highly active 0.12 mm disc, it is most likely Strontium-90 (Sr-90). Although the gamma spectroscopy results do not perfectly match Sr-90, it is the best fit among the common beta-emitting radioisotopes. It is widely available and has the properties closest to what you've observed. Keep in mind that these conclusions are based on the information you've provided, and it's essential to perform more tests and analyze additional data to confirm the radioisotope's identity.