Thermometer in my butt. Is my Cobalt-60 still fresh. Does an old X-Ray machine make a good weapon?

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cuffs054

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Retirement has blessed me with time (perhaps too much) to ponder various things. First, when you do a roast on a rotisserie where do you put the thermometer? Usually you aim for the epi-center of the roast but now you have a metal rod there.

B. Ok, I should have paid more attention in chemistry or physics or whatever. So, knowing that the half life of Cobalt-60 is 7.22222222 years, lets say I pop over to the NukeMart and pick up a new fresh box of C-60. I stick in the pantry for say, 8 years. When I open it what will I have? Will it be the same shape, color, etc?

Thirdly, watching an old Outter Limits there is a scene where Robert Kulp is feeling frisky and decides he doesn't want to get transported to the planet Poopon after all. So, while the scientists are trying to calm him down in the lab Robby grabs the head of an X-ray machine and aims and fires it like a ray gun. I'm not really sure this would be all that effective. More importantly lets say I'm walking past the lab door with my new Harbor Fright geiger counter, will it detect the X-rays flying around?
 
Can't help you on the first one, as I've never in my life used a rotisserie. As for the cobalt-60 (BTW, the reference I have gives cobalt 60's half life as about 5.2 years; minor difference), it probably won't look much different except maybe glowing a bit less. The primary decay mode for cobalt-60 is to beta decay to nickel-60, which is not radioactive. Cobalt and nickel are both your typical transition metals and look pretty similar in their native form.

As for the X-ray machine: Your average dental X-ray doesn't really have the ability to focus the radiation very much, so it makes a crummy beam weapon. Your radiation counter might not detect it at all depending on what type it is; some of them are not senstive to photons with less energy than gamma rays.
 
Cornutt, I appreciate the correction, don't know what I was thinking. But really, does that mean that at the end of 5+ years the C-60 won't kill me? It would probably help if I knew if C-60 was naturally occuring or man made. My point is (I really need a hobby) if you found some how would you know what the "expiration date" would be? All of this started when I read about Hanford site and Los Alamos, really interesting stuff.
 
Still dangerous...

I don't claim to know all about atomic energy but have been interested in it and nuclear medicine. Cobalt 60 will give off gamma rays and after 5+ years it will give off half the amount in gray, Sieverts, or whatever measurement you are using. It will still be a dangerous amount of gamma rays. In cancer treatment they use these gamma rays to make a "dash" through cancer cells but the radiation is directed and contained and for a set amount of time. The "dash" these rays make destroy healthy cells too and your organs will not function and you will be sick and if enough, die of radiation poisoning. I'll try to find the "expiration" when it decays to nickel to just giving off background radiation.

Cobalt 60 is not found in nature. The element cobalt a metal with the atomic number of 59 is not in itself radioactive. When cobalt is irradiated in a nuclear reactor, it gains an extra neutron, making it 60. They used to use research reactors to create Cobalt 60 but now the boiling water reactor at Hope Creek power station is being used to create the material (Barry do you know about this?)

Meanwhile, if you want to use an x-ray machine as a weapon, you may want to start with one used for mammograms. Unlike a tooth, which is much harder and more dense than a cavity or the surrounding tissue, with a mammogram, the beam may not be any stronger but the exposure time is longer because there is very little difference in density between cancerous cells and healthy cells. But that might be awkward, because such a unit is kinda like a drill press and the technician has to place the woman's breast on the table of the machine and compress it - which helps explain why women don't like them but the pressure makes it more likely to find a difference and is more diagnostic.

I wish I knew and could tell more but that is what happened when I was depressed as a teenager and grew up in Breed Hills, that scared me of the advanced math.
 
Old cobalt60 will still kill you, just take twice as long as fresh.

Retirement is a bitch. Work was my life. All I've got left is AW, menu planning, and squinting at the cable guide.
 
Neptune, thanks for the info. I too am fascinated with the whole nuke thing. The story of the Russian scientist that stuck his head in the beam of a particle accelerater and lived is amazing. When I win the lottery I heading for Bern and touring the LHC!
 
At least some of the Frigidaire rotisseries had the meat thermomoter in the center of the spit. I have only seen pictures of it. GE range manuals cautioned the user not to use the plug in meat thermometer with the rotisseris.
 
Tom, couldn't you get one of those little personal size thermometers used for steaks?   Instead of providing a temperature reading, you'll just see a range from "rare" to "well done," but isn't that what you want to know anyway?  

 

The stem would be short enough to reach close to the center but still keep clear of the heating element, bottom and sides of the cavity (presuming you're using a portable rotisserie) and the spit, which might provide a false reading if there's any heat transfer from the exposed ends of the spit into the portion of it that's surrounded by the roast. 

 

Meanwhile, here's something for you to chew on that has been eating at me for a while, considering my spousal role of the past few years:  "Caretaker" vs. "Caregiver."  What's the difference?  Don't they both mean the same thing? 
 
RP, interesting question. I'm going with : Caretaker; one who offers care for a price. Caregiver; one who offers care for no price. I'm in the position of "caregiver" for my SO. Getting old is not for the weak!

Corn, so the "stuff" would look the same but be safe? (why won't the voices leave me alone).
 
Too bad you don't have a nearby flouroscope to test! (Friend of mine used to go to his grandmothers shoe store every day after school to get his feet x-rayed. No ill effects yet)
 
Davie, those were the good ole days. None of this mamby pamby total exposure stuff. OK, licking a radium brush probably wasn't that smart, but who knew? I just read about army guy who was impalled from groin to neck by "rod" from exploding reactor that stuck him to the ceiling of the chamber. I guess the govment forgot to mention that to anyone for decades. (supposidly the explosion blew the gazillion ton reactor NINE feet into the air!)
 
Caretaker/giver

On this side of the 'Pond', Caretakers generally look after buildings/property, while Caregivers look after people. Payment or lack of it is immaterial.

I have no experience of C-60, but have a small quantity of Radium, and a small, portable X-ray machine, also a geiger counter, and a couple of fluorescent screens..... Sounds like time for an experiment ;-)

Yes, I have lead aprons, too....

It will take me a few days to get everything together, but I'll let you know what I find out.

All best

Dave T
 
X-Ray "gun"???A medical diagnostic X Ray would spread the beam from the emittor tube out so it would cover a large area-such as a persons chest.So at the range depicted in that Outer Limts Horror show the beam wouldn't do anything.Now if we had an industrial X-Ray unit-this concentrates the X-ray beam from the tube into a small, sharp,beam-so as to penetrate a concrete or rock core sample-or perhaps a weldment-than it may cause a radiation burn.Again the device emitting the beam would have to be contacting you.So we could consider an x-ray machine to be an ineffective weapon.The guy throwing the labware around may do more damage to you.Have that show on DVD.
 
Tol, thanks for checking it out. In all honesty I couldn't remember if it was OUTTER LIMITS or SCIENCE FICTION THEATER. Both make great watching! Love the one where they propose that "time" is just a place. How cool would that be?!
 
'Industrial' Xray

A friend of mine used to operate such a machine..... (allegedly the most powerful in Europe) at a foundry near me..... No idea of full spec, but something like 400kV tube, and it lives in an underground 'bunker', with a 'labyrinthine' access, and dozens of 'interlock' switches to operate it.......

Sadly, I never got to see it.... :-(

All best

Dave T

"More Volts, Ygor!!!"
 

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