Radioactive mineral sources can be examined.

Alpha particles have a range in air of about 2 or 3 cm; you must place the source close to the Radiation Monitor to observe the alphas. Inserting a piece of paper in the alpha beam stops them! Beta particles have a longer range in air, and are mostly unaffected by passing through a piece of paper. A thin lead sheet stops the betas, but some counting may remain due to the presence of a some gammas in the beta source. Gammas are unaffected by the paper or the thin lead sheet, but can be stopped by a lead brick

A piece of tissue paper is placed on a screen mesh over the input port of a vacuum cleaner. After the air is sucked through the vacuum cleaner for about 15 minutes (depending on how much radon gas is present) the tissue is placed by the window of a Geiger tube. In a radon-rich environment, the increased count rate would be clearly evident, showing that radioactive materials are on the tissue. This count rate can be contrasted with the count rate of a clean piece of the same tissue paper.

The radioactivity results from radioactive decay products of radon gas which are solids and attach themselves to dust particles in the air. The tissue removes these dust particles as the air is sucked through the vacuum cleaner.

Also included are a home-type radon testing kit along with copies of the descriptive literature.

This demonstration is provided primarily for illustrative purposes, and will not reliably detect radon in the classroom environment.

Shrink tube is used in a number of important industrial applications, such as to protect electronic wiring connections and to wrap turkeys. This demonstration allows students to see how shrink tube works.

Various samples of electronic shrink tubing are available for demonstration using a standard heat gun. Partially shrunken samples are at the lower right in the picture above.

Water squirts out of the two-meter vertical tube through a capillary tube into a small tank. In each "half life" of the system, the amount of water left in the tube decreases by a factor of two. The half life of about 130 seconds is measured by the large electronic counter. Four half lives are easily observable using markings on the tube, and the measurement is good to a few percent.

The equations for this system are identical to those for decay of radioactive nuclei, the only condition being that the amount of decay (nuclei or water gone) is proportional to the total amount of decaying material (either nuclei or water in the tube).

Sealed sources of alpha particles and beta particles are used with a small student cloud chamber to observe the paths of alphas and betas. The alpha paths (shown in the photograph) are very distinct and clear, whereas the beta paths are more diffuse. Cosmic ray products or gamma rays are also visible, but less distinct.

The cloud chamber uses dry ice for cooling, and uses methanol to remove heat from the chamber and to provide the atmosphere of supersaturated alcohol vapor which condenses along the path of the ionizing particles to make the path visible.

Stereo photographs of bubble chamber tracks can be viewed individually by students using the three-dimensional viewmaster. A guide book identifies the reactions in each photograph and has separate drawings highlighting the tracks of interest.

A set of slides of the pictures is also available; this is helpful in describing the setup to a larger class.

Ping pong balls are positioned on each loaded mousetrap. When a ball is thrown into the box from a hole in the top, it releases the trap which it hits, adding energy to the two balls involved. Each of those balls then hits another trap or two, multiplying the effect. This demonstration was invented by the Walt Disney company in early 1950s as a way to explain to the public how an atomic bomb works.

PLEASE NOTE: The video is available below.