Nuclear Radiation | Penetration of Gamma Rays and Radiation Shielding

Nuclear radiation is emitted from a material when the nucleus of an unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing radiation. The emitted radiation consists of gamma rays, alpha particles (He2+), beta particles (high energy electrons or positrons) and conversion electrons. From these components gamma rays are most dangerous for humans as they can easily penetrate the skin and cause severe damage to internal organs. Although gamma radiation is often an unwanted byproduct when producing nuclear power, it also has found use in medicine and food industry. In medicine gamma radiation is used for cancer treatment as it kills the cancer cells. In food industry the radiation is used to sterilize food as it kills bacteria and leaves the food unharmed. Gamma radiation can easily penetrate different materials and this makes radiation protection difficult. The penetration depends on the atomic number and therefore heavy metals such as Pb (lead) are used for shielding. In this experiment we use a geiger counter to measure the radiation emitted from a cobalt-60 isotobe and see how well we can block the radiation by using different materials such as wood, aluminum, steel, tungsten, pork cutlets and led casing.
This free educational video about radiation shielding was made in collaboration with the Institute of Physics, University of Tartu. Note that the radiation source used for this experiment was quite safe as it emitted radiation only 5 times higher than the normal background radiation in the building.

Credits:
Filming, voiceover and editing: Maido Merisalu
Experimental setup: Taivo Jõgiaas

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[CaptainCorrosion]

Feel free to calculate the shielding efficiency of some materials by using our online calculation tool!

[BaKer]

perfect, thanks mate, I needed a refresher on this today, I appreciated the comedy and examples.

personally I drank a lot of ethanol this weekend so I am feeling rather mortal, I am relieved to have had you help me with this.

[gaurav]

You have got guts mate!! Nice video. Try uranium next time. 👍

[eternallord]

Isn't it dangerous to be near that stuff barehanded?

[carmine]

That source is from 1986. Co-60 has a half-life of 5.3 years. Your source has hafted 5.471 times since 1986 to 2015. When the Co-60 source was made in 1986 the number of counts would have ben 3, 100+ counts in 100 seconds.
I just hope you don't use that source for recalibration of you equipment.

[pinguino]

amazing video. a test of how thick a material has to be to turn it "safe" would be a nice. but we would probably have to double the size or more since there would probably be more gamma rays in a catastrophe

[michaelrockwell]

Thumbs up for seeing old Nixie tubes in action!

[antongolovko]

Wow, where did you get your hands on the cobalt-60? If it was made in 1986, it would explain why the source wasn't so radioactive since the half-life of cobalt-60 is only 5.3 years. But still, very cool!

[LoLSlowMotions]

wow i thought pb blocks all the radiation that comes from source nice to learn that and i have one question for you dude if you weld this pb would it be the same?

[ScientistPrepper]

Great informative video. Do the materials like the steel keep the bad radiation after they're moved away? Thanks for the video.

[TheMarkoPoloProgram]

Seriously thought that was human for a split second.

[archangelmichael]

Background radiation itself is pretty high anyways. Must still be a lot if you're even in the same room with the lead encased co-60

[christopherleubner]

Love the nixie tube counter setup. Kinda miss using equipment with those in it. Also ime a spurce like this has an interal tungsten shield as well with a pinhole plugged by a stepped tungsten rod held in place by a setscrew. 🤓

[rotatingdiscohorsehead]

Interesting the lead casing is thought to seal all 5he radiation but it doesn't

[younesbkl]

1 meter of steel wall can block them, but I'm not sure if it blocks them completely .

[sirloin]

So them saying they used 7mm thick aluminum for space ship is BS. They could not make it through the van Allen belt correct?

[biggboi]

Comrade, experiment with beta Ray's. More fun I think

[CamiloAndresGil]

Hi, I've heard that concrete is a good radiation shielding material, obviously not as good as lead, but is that true? If so, using cement blocks could work good too? (concrete is composed by cement)

[rolledsocks]

The term "gamma rays" referring to of atomic decay of nuclei is appropriate for this video. But referring to the realGamma rays which don't come from radioactive materials they come from things that are millions of degrees hot like a supernova or pulsar. To put it in perspective the wavelength of the microwaves that heat your food are about 1 meter to a centimeter, but gamma ray wavelengths can be as small as sub atomic particles delivering an incomprehensible amount of energy. 10 seconds of a gamma ray burst releases more energy than the sun does in its entire life.

[ASTATOSTASOS]

Can you explain how an RMBK reactor explodes, Comrade?