teaching material -Reply

[FRAMEP@ORAU.GOV]

David:

Here's 2 easy things.
1.  Get 2 portable scalers, one with a pancake GM, the other ZnS. Have
the kids bring in something from home e.g. soil, sand, fertilizer, rock salt,
gravel, ground up brazil nuts(Ra), ceramic plates( U), glass (K-40),
smoke detector (Am) , wood ash, air/furnace filter used that morning
(Rn), moist paper towel used that morning to clean the TV screen that
morning (Rn) etc. Maybe you could have each student responsible for a
given item. Make them bring the material (except the paper towell and
filter) in a few days ahead of time, if they can't locate something, you
could bring it yourself.
Perform a 3-5 minute count on each and rank the results. Make your
brother  do the counts while you are doing something else.

2. Get an alpha source, place a  ZnS screen on top and view the screen
with a magnifying glass (preferably not hand held). Turn out the lights,
explain whats going to happen and after a couple of minutes have them
look at the scintillations. It has an element of drama to it. The kids will be
doing their own thing in the dark instead of listening to the explanation but
thats what being a kid is all about anyway.

Run some tests ahead of time on your own to see that it works.Maybe
you could report back on radsafe what seemed to work.

Best wishes

Paul Frame
Professional Training Programs
ORISE
framep@orau.gov