So when we talk about the question, what is nuclear,

we're really talking about the study of radiation

coming out of the nucleus or nearby.
And so it's important for us to be on the same wavelength
or define some of the same terms so we all
know what we're talking about.
Really, we're talking about ionizing radiation.
So let's answer this first question.
What is ionizing?
And what is radiation?
Something that's ionizing means it can remove an electron
from an atom.
That's the process of creating an ion, which we'll
explain in more detail shortly.
And radiation is any moving amount of matter or energy.
To a physicist, matter and energy
are the same thing because they're
related with Einstein's famous equation E equals mc squared.
So let's get a little bit more into the specifics of,
what is ionizing, and what is radiation?
You can see here that radiation that can ionizes
is physically able to remove an electron surrounding
the nucleus of an atom.
In this case, it could be a proton, an electron.
Anything with enough energy to pull that electron out
could be considered ionizing.
You can have other forms of radiation
which are not ionizing, which we would call non-ionizing.
Examples of these include the visible wavelengths
of light like red, green, blue light,
as well as infrared, microwave, et cetera.
And here, you can see that when light can scatter off
of electrons but it doesn't have enough energy to remove them,
we would consider that to be non-ionizing radiation.
So some examples of radiation could be electrons,
light charged particles, protons, heavier charged
particles, neutrons--
which are relatively heavy uncharged particles--
nuclear fragments, even things like calcium 48 nuclei
used in the synthesis of super heavy elements,
as well as all of the different wavelengths of light
because light is nothing more than traveling energy.
However, high energy bits of light like X-rays, gamma rays,
even ultraviolet rays are considered ionizing
because they have enough energy--
around 3 or 4 electron volts--
enough to remove an electron, whereas lower energy light
does not.
So now, in this video, I'd like to introduce our Geiger
counter, which we'll be using and referring to
throughout this course.
And that's our handy little ionizing radiation detector.
So for now, just take my word that this little box right here
detects ionizing radiation.
Let's first take what's called the background spectrum.
When we turn the Geiger counter on,
you'll notice that there's a little bit
of blue lights flashing here and a little bit
of audible clicking coming from the speaker.
Every time you see a blue light flash
and you hear a click, that's a little bit
of ionizing radiation entering this brass Geiger counter tube.
Now, you might notice that we don't
have any source of ionizing radiation here on the table.
Yet, you still see flashes and hear clicks.
That's because there's ionizing radiation all around us.
It comes from outer space, which is called cosmic radiation.
It comes from the materials in this building.
It comes out of the air.
It comes from the ground.
It comes from inside you and I. Natural ionizing radiation
is all around us.
So what we should really do is look
at the amount of extra clicks we hear
if we are to use this as an ionizing radiation detector.
We can now use the Geiger counter
to sort out what kind of radiation
is and isn't ionizing.
Let's start with a light bulb.
We can bring this light bulb near the Geiger counter
and turn it on.
Now, this light bulb is a source of radiation.
But it's not a source of ionizing radiation.
You can see that the light bulb is emitting light.
However, when we turn the bulb on and bring it near the Geiger
counter, you don't really hear any additional clicks
or see any flashes of blue light.
Whether the light is off or on, it's
about the same number of counts per second.
Therefore, while this is a source of radiation,
it is not a source of ionizing radiation.
By contrast, we have these little disks
that we call check sources.
These are sealed little bits of ionizing radiation--
you can already hear the Geiger counter starting to respond--
that will show you the difference here.
Both the light bulb and this disk
are emitting photons, or little waves of light.
But the waves of light coming from here
are much more energetic, and they have enough energy
to ionize or rip electrons off of different molecules.
So let's put it close to the Geiger tube.
And notice the stark difference that we have here.
As we bring this check source closer to the Geiger counter,
you hear clicks going on all the time.
That's because this is a radioactive piece of material.
Unlike the light bulb whose photons are too low energy
to cause ionizations, this little coin
emits ionizing radiation all the time.
And the closer you bring it to the tube, the more intense
the clicking gets.
But again, when we take it away, you still hear a few clicks
here and there.
And that's due to the natural background radiation
of high energy photons and other particles
streaming through us at all times.
Now, with that knowledge and this tool
to tell what type of radiation is ionizing,
we can already dispel a couple of myths about radiation.
There's two common ones that I've
seen talked about on the internet, around the water
cooler, wherever.
One is that microwaves emit ionizing radiation.
This is false, and we can find out together.
So here, we have a trusty Geiger counter.
And here, we have a microwave oven.
We're going to turn them on at the same time.
And even though the microwave is going to get loud,
we can watch the blue light on the Geiger counter
as an indicator of the number of ionizing radiation events
that we detect.
So here we go.
Let's turn the microwave on and see if we get more clicks
or beeps when the microwave is going.

Despite the fact that the microwave is producing

microwave radiation-- not ionizing radiation--
we don't see any extra clicks, and the Geiger counter
is not indicating any additional ionizing radiation.
To demonstrate this even more clearly,
I can bring the Geiger counter right up
to the microwave itself.

And as you can see, no real difference in count rates

indicates no additional ionizing radiation.
It's perfectly safe to put your hand right up to the microwave.
Nothing's going to happen to you.
The second myth I've heard talked about a lot
is that cell phones can cause cancer
by admitting ionizing radiation.
This is also false.
Cell phones emit radio waves, which
are far, far too low in energy to remove electrons and cause
the ionizations that can eventually
lead to the creation of cancer.
So let's try an experiment.
Here, I've got our trusty Geiger counter,
which I'll switch on now.
And I've got a cell phone, which is not actively being called.
You'll notice that there are still a few errant clicks here
and there, about 20 clicks per second,
because that's the natural background radiation level.
So we're going to watch the lights.
And now what I'd like to do is ask my friend to call me.
And we're going to see whether or not, when
the cell phone is being called, the clicks start to increase.

[CELL PHONE VIBRATING]

As you can see, basically no discernible effect.
I'll even pick up the phone.
And we'll let it transmit at full power for a little while.
And we'll see after about a minute whether we get,
on average, 20 clicks.
[SPORADIC CLICKING]
As you can see, there's not much going on.
It's been about 30 seconds.
There's been about 10 clicks, same as background.

Yet another example where these cell phones

are emitting radio waves.
They're emitting radiation, but it is not ionizing radiation.
And it's ionizing radiation that's the damaging kind.
It changes the chemistry of different atoms
by ejecting electrons.
And all chemistry has to do with the interactions
of the electrons surrounding atoms.
Microwaves don't do this.
Radio waves don't do this because they're not ionizing.
They can comprise other dangers, though.
As long as the microwave or radio total
energy doesn't cause too much heating to the cells
in our body, they're perfectly safe.
You can cook food with them.
You can put a cell phone in your pocket.
You can talk all day every day, and you
don't have a danger of cancer from ionizing radiation.
It's the ionizing radiation, however,
that deserves to be understood and treated
with respect because this is the more dangerous form.
So now, together, let's leave the history
of the discovery of ionizing radiation
so you can see how it was understood before we even
knew what it was.