The invisible world of RADIATION revealed: Cloud chamber lets you watch the patterns produced as uranium decays

  • Scientists have captured radiation on film as it is emitted from uranium 238
  • The fragment of uranium was place inside a cloud chamber as it decays
  • Charged alpha particles and electrons condense alcohol vapour in the box
  • This produces snowflake-like patterns as they particles are fired outwards  

By Richard Gray for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:

If you have ever needed proof that radiation is made up of high energy particles zipping out from a substance as it decays, then look no further.

This incredible video reveals the beauty of the invisible world of radiation as it is emitted from a lump of uranium 238.

The electrically charged particles being fired out of the radioactive material create mesmerising patterns inside the glass container.

The video was created using a cloud chamber - a sealed container cooled to -40 degrees C containing a vapour of alcohol and a magnetic field.

When the charged alpha particles pass through the vapour it creates a mist of condensation to form along its path.

The large white trails are left by alpha radiation particle and the smaller less distinct trails are electrons.

The radiation being flung out from the uranium create snowflake-like patterns inside the cloud chamber

The radiation being flung out from the uranium create snowflake-like patterns inside the cloud chamber

A tiny fragment of uranium (shown above) is placed on top of a magnet that is then covered with a clear box

A tiny fragment of uranium (shown above) is placed on top of a magnet that is then covered with a clear box

The video was created by French physicists at the Cloudylabs particle detector manufacturers.

They said: 'Any charged particle is visible in a cloud chamber. The most common ones are alphas, electrons, positrons, protons, nuclear charged fragments

'Most of the vapour condenses on the glass surface creating a mist, but a small fraction of it stays in vapour form above the cold condenser.

'This creates a layer of unstable supersaturated vapour which can condense at any moment.

LIGHT CAPTURED AS BOTH A WAVE AND A PARTICLE 

It has been one of the most frustrating paradoxes of modern science - that light exists both as a wave and particle at the same time but can never be seen in both states simultaneously.

Albert Einstein was the first person to describe this apparent dual state of light in 1905 in an attempt to explain some of the apparently contradictory behaviour it displays.

Yet when scientists attempt to observe these states, it has only ever been able to see light behave as photon particle or as an electromagnetic wave.

But researchers based at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), claim to have captured the first ever snapshot of light behaving as both a wave and particle. 

The technique for capturing the image could be used to help open up new areas of superfast computers that exploit the quantum states of materials. 

The above image is what scientists say is the first ever snapshot of light behaving as a particle and a wave. The bottom 'slice' of the image shows the particles, while the top image shows light as a wave

The above image is what scientists say is the first ever snapshot of light behaving as a particle and a wave. The bottom 'slice' of the image shows the particles, while the top image shows light as a wave

'When a charged particle crosses this vapor, it can knock electrons off the molecules forming ions.

'It causes the unstable alcohol vapor to condense around ions left behind by the travelling ionizing particle.

'The path of the particle in the matter is then revealed by a track composed of thousands droplets of alcohol.'

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