How Radiation Works using Americium 241, Alpha Particles and Gamma Rays
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 9 янв 2025
- How radiation work using Americium 241 as an example as it radiates alpha particles and gamma rays, slowly undergoing radioactive decay to become Neptunium 237. Full animated explanations are given. Also there are live demonstrations using an Americium 241 pellet from an ionizing smoke detector and a spark gap powered by a homemade high voltage power supply.
For the Nuclear Fusion in the Sun video, watch:
• Solar Energy - Nuclear...
For the How a Rocket Works/Earth to Space video, watch:
• How a Rocket Works/Ear...
For the How a Crystal Radio Works video, see:
• How a Crystal Radio Works
3D modelling and animation done using Blender 2.63.
To follow me on Twitter:
#!...
rimstar.org
The best explanation about "how it's work" ionization chamber.
Well done! Like!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it.
Naw, not a science teacher. Countless hours in classrooms (and numerous companies' makeshift classrooms) teaching adults computer and solar related subjects. Add to that a lifelong passion for movie making, science, building stuff and a few year stint as a solar contractor and you get my channel. Thanks to youtube for a way to combine it all! :)
Yup, I've run across him a few times over the years. It's fun making cool things out of readily available stuff that no one realizes is right in front of them.
Did a rigorous experiment this morning. I used a raw solar cell, no glass on it, one of many I bought years ago. I put one cell inside a box inside another box to make sure there was no light. One test was with the cell by itself. Another test was with five Americium pellets sitting on the cell, still in their housings as in my video but as you see from the spark gap, that works. Wires ran to the outside to a voltmeter on the mV scale. Identical 0.0002 to 0.0003mV for each. Oh well, it was fun.
Wow! I'm glad this video's going to get such practical use. Thanks for letting me know!
And that's a clever practical use you've come up with. Interesting to see they're used in more than just smoke detectors.
you have a way of explaining the overall picture of something relatively complex so that it's very easy to understand! Rock on dude! +subscribed
Thomas Hedegaard Glad to hear it! Thanks for the feedback and welcome!
I really like the spark gap ionization detector. Cool!
Best explanation I've found. Great job
You're very welcome. This was a fun one to make.
An excellent presentation. Very well put together and explained.
From a quick look, it also starts with ionization but differs in how it's detected. I'll add it to the todo list.
Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.
Superbly explained.
I think most of the spark's energy is still coming from the power supply, though the alpha particles are supplying some. Interesting thought.
The minimum voltage is hard to say since the ionizing radiation is making the spark gap more conductive.
I don't know if some alpha particles get through. I guess you'd need to set up a second spark gap somehow to see.
You're welcome. It sounds like it achieved its goal so thanks for letting me know.
Thanks and you're welcome! How big is a microcurie of Americium (size or weight approximately)?
Sounds like a fun chem class!
Thanks! Yup, ionizing smoke detectors are a very elegant solution. I wonder who originally came up with the idea.
I'm pretty sure it wouldn't provide more energy to a solar cell than even dim room light and in fact I've already seen that this evening with a silicon cell. But it would be neat to see it working. The problem with the quick test I did so far was that the Americium pellet and it's housing blocked light, causing the cells output to go down. I'll have to rig it in darkness to see if it works.
Ngl I’ve learned more watching 9 of this guys videos then I have in engineering classes 😬😆 PLEASE KEEP MAKING THESE VIDEOS
Thanks. That's something I can see of use in one of your projects someday.
Awesome video! The thing with the HV supply gives a visual demonstration on how smoke detectors work, when smoke gets between the electrodes on the americium sample it blocks the flow of current and trips the alarm.
Wish I had not thrown my sample out now.
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
Thanks. This was a fun video to do.
Good question. It's not the alpha particles themselves that cause damage. It's the fact that they're moving with great energy. They have enough energy when they collide with other atoms or molecules to liberate and electron, turning them into ions. The loss of the electron could even change the molecular bonds in the molecule, turning the molecule into some other molecule. The helium you inhale isn't energetic, it's not moving around fast like the helium we call alpha particles.
I don't have any amorphous cells. The bi-metalic thing sounds interesting. The structure's probably more conducive to ionization - guessing. I'll certainly keep it in mind; it would be cool to do.
Thanks Todd. Lot's of fun to do too!
I "use" Am241 in some of my electronic equipment as sealed source spark gap surge suppressors. I must provide safety training to my workers on an annual basis due the the radiological hazards associated with the sources. This video, although not directly representative, will give my people a better idea of the how and what of Am241. Thanks for the video!
I deleted my previous answer to 1. Here's my thinking, probably what you're thinking too. Shorter gap is more sensitive, longer gap is less sensitive. Lower voltage is less sensitive, longer gap is more sensitive. So they balance each other out.
And thanks! It's a failure if no one learns anything, so your feedback helps.
I like this, simple to understand with demonstration of theory, clear and concise. Great!
Yes, that's right. The alpha particles are helium atoms. The rate at which it emits them depends on the number of Americium atoms I guess. As the video said, the half life is 432.2 years. So if you have only 2 atoms, I think that means only one will be emitted in those 432.2 years i.e. half of the two atoms will have decayed. But my sample had a lot of atoms and from the sparks, I was getting more than one every second.
Oh, cool! I gotta try this. And yes, if it works I'll make a video. Thanks!
My understanding is the amount of energy needed for an alpha particle to liberate an electron from an atom is at least partly due to what other atoms as interacting with it. The atoms in air _probably_ require less energy than the atoms in a doped silicon crystal. I suppose the atoms themselves, nitrogen and oxygen versus silicon, play a part but I'm less sure of that.
Clever visual of "ionizing" radiation! Concise and nice. Would definitely use as a teaching tool -- (intro to radiation, etc)
Thanks, and I agree! :)
You know, what's bizarre is that I don't know the answer to that question. A quick search didn't turn up the answer either. I'll have to dig deeper.
This is really cool, and you deserve a larger audience.
Why do we see light in the electrical arc?
I can't say for sure what would happen. There are no electrons being emitted as with thermionic emission or a strong electric field but maybe when the energetic alpha particles collide with the atoms at the tip of the alligator clip they'll cause electrons to be released into the vacuum which would gradually make a conductive path and then an arc could form. But as I said, I don't know that for fact.
Great video and great explanation.
Our tubes are actually part of an AT&T system, so they get the credit for the clever use. They provide a nice low 60 volt surge proctection for sensitive equipment.
Interesting point. I don't agree fully in that I show that alpha radiation, at least consists of the emitting of alpha particles and gamma rays and I talk about half-life. The weak force is the force holding the nucleus together, so that's not radiation. The question is what makes the weak force fail and result in radiation. I've never seen an answer for that, other than probability. But if you have some guidance as to where I can find out the details of why radiation happens, I'd like to know.
Excellent explanation. Thank you!. Could you please let me know what would be the safe distance for well logging ,If I use AM-214 BE of 16 CI? or how does the safe distance calculation work for Americium 241.
Thanks! Unfortunately, I don't know what you mean by "well logging". A google search shows something for mapping geological formations but since this barely penetrates paper, I don't think it will help you with that.
WIPP Electrical Flaw Nearly Left The Midwest Uninhabitable, And May Yet Still
Your video describes precisely what happened at the Department Of Energy's WIPP site when it spewed Am241 and Pu239 directly into the electrical substation powering the facility. A single point failure design flaw which could have (and may still) make the Midwest uninhabitable
(1:53) *Correction:* Normal atmospheric gas is _not_ 100% oxygen, but instead a varying 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, and 1% other gasses, depending upon the environment. The air is generally uncharged, though.
Thanks. I can't recall exactly what I was thinking when I scripted that, though I was well aware that air contains more than just oxygen. Perhaps that's why I said each atom of air rather than saying specifically oxygen. However, I can see why since I showed only an oxygen atom, you might get the idea I was saying that air contained only oxygen. Others might have the same interpretation so thanks for bringing it up.
@@RimstarOrg is it possible that the N2 molecule is harder to ionize because of its triple bond?
However, I have bought a sample of Am and a geiger counter for smartphone. It gets a discrete measure with my 50-80 mg pieces of Th and U sealed in ampoules, but with the exposed Am piece directly on the sensor, there's nothing more than the backgroung. I know it doesn't detect alpha, but is it normal to get nothing if it works with the other two elements?
I don't know about N2 ionization. A quick search for thorium shows it does decay by giving off alpha particles en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium but also a quick search shows that uranium gives off beta particles en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium I guess maybe your sample of americium gives off even less than thorium, too little for your geiger counter. That's all just quick guessing on my part.
This video is AWESOME! Thanks a lot for this video! I have an alpha particle spark detector, and it works using this same principle.
Groan indeed! If someone told me I'd be groaning to a nuclear pun this morning I'd have said they were insane! Well-played, my friend!
From your idea... "were coated with Americium"... you can guess I won't be trying that one! :)
Very interesting. I'm not exactly sure how a geiger counter works, but I think it's a similar principle (ionization of air). Might be an interesting (if similar) video to build one.
You ought to look up the Radioactive Boy Scout and see some of the neat things he accomplished with Am241 and some other easily obtainable sources.
:)
Patient: It hurts when I do this.
Doctor: Then don't do that!
fadi butris I wouldn't worry too much about the dangers for two reasons:
1) The alpha particles as stated in this video are completely blocked by the insides of the smoke detector and don't pose much of a threat as long as the source is kept outside of the body.
2) The risk of getting cancer from the gamma rays is insignificant to worry about due to the small amount of material; the dose is comparative to the small dose we get from the cosmic rays and gamma rays we get from the background radiation we're natually exposed to.
Our bodies can tolerate such low doses.
Awesome video! Really liked it.
Great video as usual Rimstar :) I was curious about aznngg's question as well and realized that the answer stems back to the probabilistic nature of radioactive decay/half-life. Perhaps all the nuclei in the Americium COULD emit an alpha particle spontaneously, and it's just a highly unlikely event? However, I likewise found nothing in my readings that conclusively said force X and Y are responsible for maintaining stability in other unstable, non-emitting nuclei within the Americium.
Can you get energy from the sparks?
How low of a voltage does it have to be for the sparks to happen?
Do the sparks cancel out the radiation that it gives out? If so would something radiated be fixed if inoized or electrictuted?
How will one know that the radiation part of the detector is?
Excellent explanation. Thank you!
thank you for the great video, i enjoyed it quite much. very informational.
Maybe amorphous cells ?
I've also seen a tutorial on high grade uranium can produce a current through a bi mettle device, Wonder if this could work with Americium or another lower grade radioactive material. I know you got better things to do but as a alternative energy junky without the proper math and science skills I'm so fascinated by this subject and its importance towards humanity.
Very good video again! I learned a lot. That same sparking sound in proper geiger meters is very intriguing.
Is there any difference in sensitivity or other features if we use the borderline of
1. Shorter gap and lower voltage
2. Longer gap and higher voltage?
The tiny metal radioactive disc that is in most smoke detectors it's not 100% americium is it? I suspect that it is an alloy. If it is an alloy do you know what the other metals are within it?
Nothing that I'm aware of says it's an alloy. That doesn't confirm that it isn't, just that nothing I've ever read says it is.
It's is 100 % Americium in the middle black disc the surrounding metal is Aluminum.
Fantastic explanation :)
I love learning this in chem class!!!
Great videos, I've watched and liked many. One question. Where did you receive your education and how did you commute to Earth?
:) Would you believe a technical college on Gliese 581g?
And thanks for watching and for the likes!
I just might. Nice work!
can Americium radiate large no of gamma rays ? and what happen if large no of gamma rays are incident on very small area?
You're welcome!
Good explanation. Do you have any idea to generate electricity with americium 241?
I've thought about it but since the output is so low, I haven't come up with any practical way. When you think about it, the circuit in the smoke detector is generating electricity since the particles are very slightly affecting the charge on a capacitor, or at least that's the way I think it works. But it's still a minuscule amount.
@@RimstarOrg thanks for your reply.I have a idea.how about convert alpha particle into photon using silver activated zinc sulfide and generate electricity with the solar panel
thx for your uploads friend.
I was just going to comment this a primitive Geiger counter. Thanks for your videos !
Very good experiment and nice explanation.
Part 2 I imagine a sheet of amorphous covered by a sheet of Americium then rolled into a battery like cylinder. Or layers of alternating sheets made into a stacked square cell. And if this has any problems could it work with other combinations of solar cells and different types of radioactive material.
This was an awesome video! THANK YOU! :D
I was just wondering how many electrons a alpha particle has or if it even has electrons i dont know ?
Okay how does after decay of americium the neptunium nucleus remain in excited state
Finally i understand a little about how radioactive works, still need a lot of watching RUclips tho. RUclips is gonna be the next university 😂
Rimstar. Why does the spark not remain active once struck (with or without the ionizing radiation). Wouldn't it also ionize the air gap or is it pulsed somehow? Enjoy your videos? So much to learn. So little time.
Good question. The spark happens after charge has built up enough on both electrodes on either side of the gap. One side builds up with extra electrons, making that side negatively charged, and the other side with less and less electrons, making it positively charged. During the spark, the extra electrons rush to the positive side, making both sides neutral. That means we're back to no extra electrons on one side and no lack of electrons on the other. The process of adding extra electrons to one side and removing electrons from the other side starts again. It takes time until they've built up enough negative and positive charge so the spark can happen again.
It sounds like you're comparing the spark to igniting a flame. With a candle flame, for example, once there's enough heat available the wax is an ever present fuel source that's always available in the quantity needed to keep the flame going.
Is it dangerous to take on the part with bare hands?
The americium pellet from the smoke detector is supposed to be safe to handle with your hands, as long as you don't get it into your body. But I wouldn't touch it anyway, just to be extra safe.
Ok
alpha radiation is safe as it won't penetrate the skin but would not open the case.
Glad I didn't as I didn't know about it emitting gamma rays as well which can pass through into your body and is dangerous.
:) But it takes a long time for neptunium to change so we're okay for now.
A very very interesting video, thanks a lot.
Awesome work
eating this is probably the next internet challenge
Great video! Really interesting :-)
Another fantastically informative Rimstar video. Do I dare ask about Beta particles?
Am I correct in thinking the Beta and Gamma is the stuff to be most concerned about?
Thanks for that exelent explanation John Bump
That sounds like an interesting story.
John Bump
So what was the correct answer for which one you'd swallow? I've always read you don't want to swallow alphas. Putting an alpha in your pocket might be okay. It's said that holding it in your hand is okay since the skin will block the emitted particle and the outer layer of your skin is made up of dead skin cells anyway. Though from the experiment I did in this video I have to wonder if skin really would block it. Great summary, by the way. Thanks.
Sounds like John beat me to it. :)
If you use a photo voltaic cell, how much energy could be harvested from the decay of americium? Are the particles directed by a magnetic field? Will they induce energy by passing through a coil?
Photovoltaic cells need a different frequency than gamma rays. Maybe the alpha particles would cause a reaction from collisision but I'm not sure. As for the alpha particles being directed by a magnetic field, I doubt that they would be. The alpha particles are neutral but they'd need a charge to be deflected by a magnetic field. The same issue applies with inducing energy by passing through a coil. But they might cause current to flow in a wire by colliding with particles in the wire and knocking electrons loose.
Wow thank you so much for explaining. Now I know why they used lightning rods coated with radium
I could understand that. If your willing to experiment with some of the others I tried to send a link of these very cool battery operated and relatively cheap UV water purifiers for hiking but it wont let me send the link. I also found a HHO forum pertaining to the subject so it looks like I'm not the only one thinking about this. Though they were talking about using UV and didn't mention X rays that I hear can work.
Thanks!
Thank you for your nice video. I have a question about your test with high voltage. Do you think the alpha particles that hit with the high voltage panel will be converted to Helium? I think the alpha particle will receive electron from your negative prob and will be converted to helium. Is this true?
Good question. I don't recall ever realizing that the alpha particle is helium. Having 2 protons is what makes it helium. Doing some research now, it turns out that the alpha particle in my video is helium-4, an isotope of helium. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-4
@@RimstarOrg Thank you for your answer. Now, there is another question. Do you think the alpha particle will be converted to Helium before spark or after that?!
The alpha particle is a Helium atom. As soon as it leaves the Americium atom it is a Helium atom. An atom is defined by the number of protons in the nucleus. It has nothing to do with the number of electrons. An alpha particle has two protons and therefore it is a Helium atom.
The number of neutrons determine what isotope of Helium it is.
And the number of electrons determines the charge of the atom. An electron has a negative charge and a proton has a positive charge. So a Helium atom with no electrons is entirely positively charged because it has only positively charged protons and no negatively charged electrons. If there were two electrons then the two negatively charged electrons would cancel out the charge of the two positively charged protons and the Helium atom would then have a neutral charge.
@@RimstarOrg Thank you for your explanation. Dear sir, i can generate 1000v-dc, do you think it is ok for spark testing?
WoW! you guys are so smart! Thanks! its clearly enough :)
My idea started when I first heard that x rays and UV's can also produce HHO so how about combining all or any combination of these to increase the HHO output. what if the HHO cathode and or anodes were coated with Americium then bombarded with x or UV to increase the alpha particles and gamma rays could would this increase the HHO ? I suppose the ideas and variables are endless and likely have have been thought of before. But then maybe not.
I understand. I tried to send a link to a cool and inexpensive UV water purifier for hiking but the link would not send. I also came across a HHO discussion board talking about the same subject though they were just using UV and not X rays.
Hei there are people saying that Uranium Gamma ray is release from light speed vibration inside of an Atom "Protons & Neutron" only. Not from Outside - electron Cloud.
Also -electron only release constant Magnetic Field & X-Ray only.
Is that Really True? Then which part of the atom release those infrared, Light,Microwave & Radio Wave? Anyone Know it?
Good question. But I don't have an answer, sorry. I don't recall seeing why anywhere in all my reading, and I would have remembered that.
Excellent video 👍🏼👍🏼!! Can you use an ioniser device to create that sparks too ?? Just curious.
Thanks! If you mean one of those air ionizers then I think you should be able to modify the output electrodes in some way to produce sparks. I haven't tried it but I don't see why not.
Note that the sparks may be low current ones, not as thick as mine. They're also not designed for producing sparks so if you arrange your electrodes to get long sparks then you may damage the circuitry. They're probably designed to handle very small sparks, but I can't say for sure.
Thx for your kind reply.
I have a small car ioniser which I believe can substitute the alpha particles from the radioactive Americium to create the sparks from my high voltage fly back transformer.
Oh, I misunderstood. That might work. Just keep the ionizer's electrodes away from the electrodes of your high voltage flyback otherwise you might get sparks between the ionizer's electrodes and the flyback's electrodes.
good explanation..easy understood thank you
very good video. how can isotope generators hit the nuclei faster than the atoms can decau? once a neutron hits neptonium metal, it because americium, and a split second after that it becomes neptonium again, am i right or wrong?
So, what happens when you shoot a Neutron into Neptunium 237 (assuming it doesn’t just break the atom) is Neptunium 238, this has one too many Neutrons so it really doesn’t want to exist, Neptunium 238 lasts 2 days so after that time is up it destroys the Neutron and makes it into a Proton (this determines the element). After that it becomes Plutonium 238. This is because if you had the elements on a numberline it would go Neptunium(93 Protons) - Plutonium(94 Protons) - Americium(95 Protons) This stuffis really intresting, stay curious.
@@rexisnox577 thank you.. It's very interesting. Maybe there is a way to use radiation to weld soft materials like wood or plastic by bombarding them with gamma/x-ray radiation. Forming ions ,which then bond together again.
Thanks.
Thanks
Thank you for the video! I do have a question I hope you can answer... Now I read that in the UK at Dounreay Power Plant, a 2.9 Billion pound cleanup of the decommissioned plant is underway. However, after 7 years of this cleanup project they are still dealing with the lowest level of radiation waste, such as, contaminated gloves, paper, rags, etc. My question is: If something is chemically stable such as a Nylon, leather, or vinyl gloves how are they contaminated with Radiation. How does the radiation attach itself to matter? Atoms emitting radiation is clearly understood, they are giving off particles in order to seek stability but contamination is unclear.
Looking forward to getting a reply, thanks again
Interesting question. I just looked it up (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination) and it looks like the contamination is that literally some of the radioactive by-product is what's contaminating the gloves, paper, rags, etc. So it's not the Nylon, leather or vinyl that's radioactive.
Huh... Maybe I shouldn't have crushed that americium button into a fine powder and then snorted it... Fuckkk me
I wonder how americium keeps electrostatic balance, emitting two proton means two electron remains then Am241 is grounded or negatively charged ?
That AM241 atom would be negative I guess
Wait... If it loses two protons it's no longer americium. So the americium atom becomes a neptunium atom
Thanks. I don't think pugs can be trained as radiation detectors.