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Spinthariscopes
- yesenadam 5y agoInspired by today's https://xkcd.com/2568/ https://xkcd.com/2568/
- fmajid 5y agoAnd now they will make bank…
- yesenadam 5y agoWhat does that mean?
- ta988 5y agoThat thousands of HN visitors are going to buy one.
- mavhc 5y agoThe cheaper model sold out in the past 13 hours
- AdamJacobMuller 5y agoGood for them, UN is a cool small biz.
- signalblur 5y agoI remember coming across this site when I was a kid and learning about who Bob Lazaar the owner was. Good times.
- giantg2 5y agoI still remember the "Got Uranium?" title with the guy raising his eyebrows. Definitely felt weird/awesome to order from a site like that as a kid haha.
- graderjs 5y agoHere's a video of a real one https://youtu.be/wTI1lICFTA0 https://youtu.be/wTI1lICFTA0
- 7373737373 5y agoLooks like a good randomness source
- jhallenworld 5y agoImage intensifiers are really awesome. Microchannel plate CRTs use the same technology and allowed capturing single high speed events on film before digital oscilloscopes. They are difficult to beat with modern technology (CMOS sensor) because they are much lower power than equivalent digital system, and have no latency. Think night vision goggles using 9V alkaline battery..
- 7373737373 5y agoTelescope cameras typically only use CMOS sensors, why aren't image intensifiers used there?
- jhallenworld 5y agoImage intensifier is better for real time video, but is noisy compared with still images taken with long exposure cooled CMOS sensors. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZD32Sm3Xwo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZD32Sm3Xwo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di-rjUrWvnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di-rjUrWvnk
- cdiamand 5y agoYoutube recommended the following video after watching the above. Pretty neat to see the paths of the charged particles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiscokCGOhs&ab_channel=Cloudylabs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiscokCGOhs&ab_channel=Cloud...
- graderjs 5y ago
- madengr 5y agoI remember listening to the Art Bell episode with Bob Lazar, late at night with the lights out.
- 52-6F-62 5y agoWait, the aliens guy?
- mlindner 5y agoI've met him in person. During the short time they had a store front in Michigan I went in and he was just sitting there manning the register. He showed off the 500 mW infrared laser they had in the store front for sale (powered it up without water cooling briefly). He also let me walk around in the back of the store with bins of Thorium chunks just sitting around. Was a very interesting place. I bought beyond the legal limit of a certain oxidizer and paid cash for it lol. (To be clear the law is to not sell beyond a certain amount, not to not buy it.) Makes sense why it got closed down.
- YeGoblynQueenne 5y agoWow, that name sounds all wrong, "spinthariscope". It should be "spinth_i_roscope" or "spinth_e_roscope" (from Greek σπινθήρ, "spark", probably transliterated as "spinther", given how other Greek words are transliterated). But, wikipedia has an article on it with that spelling so I guess it's legit.
- pfdietz 5y ago"releasing Alpha Particles traveling at over 20,000 miles per hour" Way over.
- toss1 5y agoOK, how far Way over?
- Someone 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_particle#Energy_and_absorption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_particle#Energy_and_abso...: “With a typical kinetic energy of 5 MeV; the speed of emitted alpha particles is 15,000 km/s” 15,000 km/s ÷ 20,000 miles/hour = 15 km/s ÷ 20 miles/hour ≈ 15 km/s ÷ 32 km/hour = 15 × 3,600 ÷ 32 ≈ 1,600 (The kinetic energy of these alpha particles may be a bit lower or higher)
- toss1 5y agoHa! You had me at finding the 15,000 km/s, but the 1,600X ... [chef's kiss] -- excellent!
- gravypod 5y agoWould one of these make a decent random source if you could find them for cheap?
- willis936 5y agoSetting aside cool factor, practically speaking, Johnson noise does just as well and is so cheap it comes with every electronic component you can buy.
- fnord77 5y agovideo of one in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwRbIMpPMs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iwRbIMpPMs
- denton-scratch 5y ago> makes this Canadian ore very unique in its chemical composition Are there other thorium ores that are only a bit unique in their composition?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- dang 5y agoRelated from the past: United Nuclear Scientific Equipment and Supplies - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241180 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24241180 - Aug 2020 (22 comments) Best toy store ever. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1595128 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1595128 - Aug 2010 (2 comments)
- mmettler 5y agoAlso, you can buy little tritium glow sticks on Amazon. Highly recommended. Our kids love them.
- supernova87a 5y agoCan you give an example link? All I seem to find offered is tritium gun sights.
- mmettler 5y agoInstructables guide to building one: https://www.instructables.com/Pocket-Size-Spinthariscope/ https://www.instructables.com/Pocket-Size-Spinthariscope/
- supernova87a 5y agoSpeaking of radioactive sources surprisingly used for casual activities, I liked this video from Applied Science guy on record(the music kind) static removers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBHIp967TD8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBHIp967TD8 Polonium!
- dave333 5y agoInteresting 14 minute video that shows what it looks like and explains early radiation detectors https://youtu.be/Hyr9-uVxQKc https://youtu.be/Hyr9-uVxQKc