I do not know why I am so fascinated with Radioactivity. Several of the science books I treasured as a kid were about Atomic Energy. I was interested in nuclear reactors and ways to measure radioactivity. My first science project, in middle school, was building a Geiger counter. My father took me to an electrician's house where we poured over the schematic and then built the circuit. It did not work very well.In high school I built many cloud chambers. This simple device, using methanol and dry ice, allowed trails of radioactive particles to be observed. After painting the top of a wide mouth jar black and first gluing to the bottom of the jar and then saturating the pad with metanol, the jar was inverted on a block of dry ice. After a few minutes, trails of cosmic rays could be seen. I had purchased a small piece of uranium ore and when I placed it in the jar I could actually see the trails of alpha particles emitted from the Uranium! I was so excited I could not sleep that night.
My next science fair project was good enough to go to the regional science fair: "What are the Subatomic Particles". I did not place at the regional fair, but the mystery of radioactivity, how to measure it and how it could produce unlimited power, had fully captured my imagination.
I played with slightly radioactive dirt and mixed marigold seeds in the dirt trying to produce a white marigold (there was a $10,000 prize for the first person to produce such a variety). I thought I could create a mutation in the seeds of the marigold that might produce a white marigold...but the seeds did not sprout.
I purchased several radioactive samples, then freely available from mail order science supply companies. I purchased plans and tried to build a nuclear (radioactive) powered battery (I don't know why it did not work). I continued to build and experiment with cloud chambers...replacing the bottom of the wide mouth jar with a clear sheet of glass. I broke many jars and many pieces of glass cutting and drilling to create a better cloud chamber. I even tried creating a bubble chamber...a more complex instrument to see the trails from atomic particles...but was never successful.
As a high school student I thought I would be a nuclear scientist. But it was not to be. As I became more aware of the mathematics and discipline required I realized (many years later) that such an occupation was not for me. At the same time, I became more aware of the hazards and long-term consequences of nuclear energy. My personal interest turned from positive to negative.
I have fond memories of my time playing with radioactivity. But I have more somber thoughts now about how dangerous it was. And while I will read and can be intrigued with new findings related to nuclear science, like quarks and new accelerators, I'm concerned about the impact to our planet and our safety. Nuclear science (and Radioactivity) is not something to play with.
