Can radiation be felt? If I pick up a tube containing radioactive material, would I feel the radiation coming off it in any way, or would it feel just like a regular metal tube?
In: Chemistry
Weird anecdote here that I have no logical explanation for… but I have damage in one eye, with a traumatic cataract and overall poor vision in that eye. However when I go to get an xray at the dentist, something happens where I essentially see waves in the air, almost like a desert mirage or looking at a light behind a ceiling fan.
I’m not trying to be pedantic here (but I guess I am). “Radiation” covers a virtually infinite spectrum (ha) of energy. From low-energy, long wavelength radio waves to way beyond the ionizing gamma rays you might be thinking of. One range of radiation that we definitely feel is infrared radiation, which we interpret as ‘hot’.
Radiation can be very slightly seen.
Not like simpsons glowing green rock. But if radiation goes directly in your eye it can hit your retina and make a tiny flash.
Cannot speak for ionising radiation. But I know I’ve felt x-rays being taken. Kinda a hot weird tingly sensation.
If there’s enough radiation of the right type in the metal tube, you might feel secondary warmth from that radiation being absorbed in the metal, but that’s not the radiation itself being felt.
No. Generally, without measuring equipment you would be completely unaware that you are being exposed to radiation until the symptoms started to present. Depending on what is in the tube causing it to be radioactive, it may be warm, but that’s a biproduct of energy release. The actual radiation would be undetectable.
You may feel heat via radiation’s effect on materials as thermoelectric effects can be a useful electricity source.
For accident related to “sensing” radiation by touch, try link below.
Essentially, three guys in a former Soviet state found two unlabeled radiation sources formerly used to power a remote radio station.
Of note, a guy immediately dropped one source because it was so hot.
They thought these weird things could be useful for the heat generated. After all, in deep winter there was no snow around the sources and the ground was steaming.
Too late to leave site in deep winter, they camped overnight, sleeping near the sources to keep warm.
One guy died, other two injured.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lia_radiological_accident?wprov=sfla1
I read an accident report at a food irradiation facility that touched upon this.
Basically an operator was in charge of a production line where food was loaded into metal carts very much like a train that was entering and exiting a food irradiation chamber.
Somewhere along the line, some component jammed and the operator needed to enter the chamber to unjam it. HE was able to circumvent/bypass numerous safety mechanisms including a pressure plate, an exposed pit and navigated a winding maze into the chamber where he worked on the jammed item.
The radiation source inside the chamber – described as the “source rack” was in the exposed position and by virtue of bypassing the safeties, was still irradiating the room upon his entry.
>On entering the irradiation chamber, the train of product carriers would have obscured the operator’s view of the source rack had it been in the irradiation position. However, had he looked, he would have seen the position of the counterweights, indicating the position of the source rack.
He walked around the back of the product transport system to where the blockage had occurred (photograph 11 (a)) and tried to release the jammed carriage couplings (photograph ll(b)). After about 1 minute, he developed an acute headache and pain in his joints and gonads. He felt generally unwell and had difficulty in breathing. He turned his head to the left and saw the source rack in the irradiation 13 position. He did not press the nearby emergency ‘stop’ button, but ran out of the irradiation chamber and told the assistant that he had been irradiated.
The guy received a massive dose of gamma radiation from a cobalt-60 source. Whole body exposure of 11Gy and localized exposure of over 20 Gy. eventually died in a prolonged painful way. PDF link if anyone wants to read a report of the accident: [https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1010_web.pdf](https://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/Publications/PDF/Pub1010_web.pdf)
Supposedly astronauts in orbit occasionally see blue flashes from the Cherenkov radiation emitted by high energy particles crossing through their eyeballs (https://www.nature.com/articles/228260a0), basically, the speed of light in water/the inside of an eyeball is about 2/3rds of the speed of light in air or a vacuum. So high energy particles can actually travel faster than the speed of light in an eyeball. That causes the blue glow we associate with the inside of a nuclear reactor
About 20 years ago near the village Lia, Georgia (the country), three men found some funny devices that generated heat while collecting for firewood in the forest. They were too hot to touch and the snow around them had melted. Cool, the men thought, we’ll set up camp here, no need to built a fire for the night.
Turned out those devices were lost radioisotope thermoelectric generators from an unfinished soviet era project. The strontium-90 within poisoned the men. Later examination showed it radiated close to 5 Sieverts per hour which is about the dose that gives a 50-50 shot at survival. One of the men got away lightly, one was hospitalized for a year and the third finally died after 2.5 years.
Moral of the story is the only radiation you can feel directly is heat.
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