The US Radium Corporation made these green-glowing paints, which they sold under the name "Undark". When the electrons fell back down to their original energy level, they gave off a greenish glow - hence the myth of anything radioactive having a green glow.īack in the early part of the 20th century, there was the tragic case of the so-called "Radium Girls". The alpha particles forced the electrons in these atoms to jump to a higher energy level. The radium gave off alpha particles, which hit the atoms in the phosphor. The radium was mixed with a chemical called a phosphor (made from silver and zinc sulphide). But the radium itself did not give off a green glow. Yes, from around 1913 to the 1960s, they did contain radium, and they did glow green. They have to wear special radiation exposure detection badges, precisely because radioactivity is invisible.īut what about the green glow of the radium-painted watches and night-time navigation instruments? This makes working with radioactive materials potentially dangerous, and this is why very specific occupational health and safety regulations have been set up for workers in the industry. Radioactivity is invisible to us - it's not green, or any other colour, it's totally invisible. Our bodies simply do not have sensors that can detect alpha-particles, or beta-particles, or gamma rays. Now here is the core to busting the Green Glow Of Radioactivity myth. Gamma rays have the most penetrating power, and so can be stopped only by materials with greater density and/or thickness, such as concrete or lead. But if something that emits alpha particles gets inside your body, and rests up against some cells and bypasses the protective layer of your skin, it can damage those cells.īeta-particles have more penetrating power, but can be stopped by a thin sheet of aluminium. Alpha particles can be stopped by a few centimeters of air, or even a sheet of paper, or your skin. Radioactivity has the potential to damage the cells in living tissue, to varying degrees. The particles can be alpha particles or beta particles, while the radiation is gamma-radiation. The core or nucleus of an unstable atom loses some energy by squirting it out as either particles or radiation. In general, radioactivity happens in atoms that are unstable. The previously undiscovered radiation from the uranium was doing the fogging. In that year, the French scientist, Henri Becquerel, discovered that uranium ores had the power to fog up photographic plates. Radioactivity has been around almost since the Big Bang, but we began to understand it only in 1896. Indeed, the phrase "glow in the dark" is used as a metaphor for radioactivity. The radioactive material he accidentally flips down the back of his shirt is quite clearly glowing green - so there's one undeniable example of radioactivity having a green glow.Īnd even back in the real world, hospital patients will laconically say that they've had so many X-rays that they glow in the dark. Homer Simpson downs tools when the knocking-off bell rings at the nuclear power plant where he works. Most of us have seen the opening sequence of any episode of The Simpsons. We may not all be nuclear scientists, but most of us are pretty sure about one piece of nuclear knowledge - we all reckon that "radioactivity has a green glow". Audio: Green glow of radiation (ABC Science).
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