A dastardly X-ray puzzle....

[metalman]

steel densitys are between 7 to 8 gm/cc, too easy to find

Use various materials for construction of the box (In layers)

wood densitys are between .45 to .7 gm/cc
leather density =.945 gm/cc
acrylic density = 1.18 gm/cc
polyurethane density =1.00 gm/cc
Aluminum density = 2.6 to 2.7 gm/cc

Use springs, weights, strings, to open or close interior openings so they vary depending on box position.

That would makes it more of a challange

[metalman]

Include some gas lantern mantels in different areas, they are naturally radioactive because of the thorium and would really confuse them to have naturasl gamma ray sources inside to box!!!!!!!

Might make the X-rays a little fuzzy!

[metalman]

You could make a 3-d maze from 1/2" PVC water pipe using standard Tee's Y's ect, then wrap the pipe with leather in various thicknesses, fill the pipe with a liquid gel, then enclose everything in the a large box partially filled with another gelled liquid of a different density. Object would be to move a ball thru the maze from the entry point to the exit point.

[metalman]

X-ray wrote:

Nah, I am always careful to use MY tax contributions in these endeavours. YOURS get spent giving radical clerics free heart operations    :-P

Hope only 100% swine parts were used in the procedure......

[metalman]

@Xray

I assume your talking about cleric Omar Bakri Mohammed who was arrested in Lebanon today?

I understood the point of your puzzle to be to teach students to read ambiguous xrays. Thats why a moving gel fluid would really mess them up. Density easily varied by adding salt

I have used radioactive materials myself, usually gamma or neutron sources. I have used the gas lantern mantle's as a check source for Geiger-Muller and Scintilliation type gamma ray detectors.

[metalman]

In geological analysis the object is to:

 measure the natural gamma radiation  
 bombard the formation with neutrons and measure % neutorns bounced back
bombard the formation with neutrons and measure the resulting gamma ray decay time
bombard the formation with neutrons and measure the resulting energy levels of the gamma ray of decay

The density source is lead shield (200 mCi Cesium 137}

The Chemical neutron sources (5.0 Curie, Am241Be) are in paraffin shields

The electrical neutron generators don't require shields (for transport!)
Neutron flux, 1E8 n/sec when on!

[metalman]

X-ray wrote:
That's dangerous stuff there! The radiotherapy department has some Cobalt 60 units and a linear accelerator, but these are fixed units built into lead 'bunkers'. The mobile stuff is scary. A mate of mine was doing industrial radiography and he had to carry a mobile unit through some pipes at a refinery, to X-ray the welds for defects. He stopped doing that job when he learned that a colleague had found a defective unit had 'lost its source'  :-o

Nah, I'll stick to the more friendly radiation, thank you.

welding and pipe inspectors typically use 8 milliCurie Cesium 137 and 40 milliCurie Am241Be source

For geological density logging, the source is a 1.4 to 2 Curie Cesium 137 or Cobalt 60 source

Time, distance, shielding!