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The article says that the apparatus included a Geiger counter, so that the dime was visibly shown to be radioactive before being encased.

• mikestew 9y ago
  The article says that the apparatus included a Geiger counter A Geiger counter, or a device that makes clicky noises? I'm not disputing the article, I'm willing to believe that the device contained an actual Geiger counter. But in isolation, my point is that this could just as easily be some scam similar to the chess-playing machine that really had a human inside of it. "These dimes have been irradiated with invisible particles! But look, I have a device that clicks in the presence of those magic, invisible particles!" Clicks, huh? Oh, realllly. And, based on another sibling comment, it was almost a scam in that the radioactive decay was so fast that the dimes might not even make it home before all of the radioactivity went away. In the end, all we have left is a dime that might, or might not, have at one time been irradiated. But even if we could prove it then, we have no way of proving it now.
  • tgsovlerkhgsel 9y ago
    The presence of Cadmium-110 could serve as a good indicator, assuming that the process added enough and there wasn't too much Cadmium-110 in the original coins.
    • mikestew 9y ago
      Cools, thanks. I figured there was some atomic particle marker thingy that would hang on to be detected later. But I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to stuff that rots by flinging dangerous particles at other stuff.