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But WHY do this at all? Is it because of public fascination with anything "atomic"? Good public relations? I don't get it. Because of little or no residual

But WHY do this at all? Is it because of public fascination with anything "atomic"? Good public relations? I don't get it. Because of little or no residual effects, why not just press the times into a souvenir holder and skip the irradiation altogether? It all just seems odd to me.

pavel_lishin 9y ago
Scarcity, and being able to prove that you went there and got your dime irradiated. Anyone could press a dime into a fancy container, but a fake could be easily detected with a geiger counter. There was no other way to irradiate dimes at the time.
- SirLuxuryYacht 9y ago
  >The only activity that might be detected today would be due to trace quantities of Ag-108m, but it would require long counts and relatively sophisticated equipment. I could not detect any in the three coins in the collection.
microtherion 9y ago
I wonder whether the dimes remained legal tender in this process. You could have paid a parking fine with a stack of them...
ginko 9y ago
I can see the fascination. In a way it's a philosopher's stone turning one element(silver) into another(cadmium). Of course the reaction is in the opposite way you'd want it to go but still.
B1FF_PSUVM 9y ago
> But WHY do this at all? "I have seen the future, and it works", an infamous phrase if there ever was one, did not come out of the blue. For three centuries now, we've been groomed to expect bountiful marvels out the "unstoppable progress" of history. Which, incidentally, is a novel concept, not present in human discourse before the XVIII century.
the8472 9y ago
It's a demonstration of neutron irradiation. The lack of residual effects does not negate the coin becoming directly associated with that demonstration in memory. If it helps making people aware of the process that's a good thing. Think about radioactive waste.
- badmin_ 9y ago
  This is the cheap go-to method for fusor enthusiasts to check for fast neutron production.
godelski 9y ago
The great answer to "Why" is "because you can".
pmiller2 9y ago
Yes, both of those things. You have to keep in mind this is the era immediately following WW2, so there was both a fascination with and fear of things "atomic."

pavel_lishin 9y ago

Scarcity, and being able to prove that you went there and got your dime irradiated. Anyone could press a dime into a fancy container, but a fake could be easily detected with a geiger counter. There was no other way to irradiate dimes at the time.

SirLuxuryYacht 9y ago
>The only activity that might be detected today would be due to trace quantities of Ag-108m, but it would require long counts and relatively sophisticated equipment. I could not detect any in the three coins in the collection.

microtherion 9y ago

I wonder whether the dimes remained legal tender in this process. You could have paid a parking fine with a stack of them...

ginko 9y ago

I can see the fascination. In a way it's a philosopher's stone turning one element(silver) into another(cadmium). Of course the reaction is in the opposite way you'd want it to go but still.

B1FF_PSUVM 9y ago

> But WHY do this at all? "I have seen the future, and it works", an infamous phrase if there ever was one, did not come out of the blue. For three centuries now, we've been groomed to expect bountiful marvels out the "unstoppable progress" of history. Which, incidentally, is a novel concept, not present in human discourse before the XVIII century.

the8472 9y ago

It's a demonstration of neutron irradiation. The lack of residual effects does not negate the coin becoming directly associated with that demonstration in memory. If it helps making people aware of the process that's a good thing. Think about radioactive waste.

badmin_ 9y ago
This is the cheap go-to method for fusor enthusiasts to check for fast neutron production.

godelski 9y ago

The great answer to "Why" is "because you can".

pmiller2 9y ago

Yes, both of those things. You have to keep in mind this is the era immediately following WW2, so there was both a fascination with and fear of things "atomic."