Radiation is such an interesting topic that really bridges the atomic scale with our macro scale in that we can detect each single atom decaying. If the commen

Radiation is such an interesting topic that really bridges the atomic scale with our macro scale in that we can detect each single atom decaying. If the comments are right, this thing had a few microcuries of an alpha emitter in it that can't hurt you unless you literally ingest or inhale it. The alphas couldn't get through your skin if you held it unshielded in your hand. Meanwhile, back at ORNL this guy recollects a time when he had 60,000 Curies of Sr-90 in a hot cell where he was seeing strikes of lightning in the cell from the voltage of the emitted beta particles [1]. It's just crazy to me that we can deal with 10 orders of magnitude different concentrations of radiation. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWLRafBwhGQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWLRafBwhGQ