Radiology Field Trip

When I called the Hospital to schedule a tour, I asked if we could specifically see the radiology department, as that was what we were studying. I also told the lady the ages of the kids, but evidently she didn't remember them, because when we got there, the radiologist's face kind of fell and she said, "Oh, I wish someone had TOLD me they'd be so young!" So it was sad, because they ARE young, but people underestimate them, because they are also smart. And we'd been learning about this stuff already, so they had a lot of background and would have been ready to learn probably a lot more in-depth than she imagined. I tried saying, "It's okay, just try us, we'll stop you if we don't understand!"---but some people just don't think kids are capable of much, I guess.

So, it was a great field trip, and we loved what we did get to see, but we felt like it was way more dumbed-down than it needed to be. The lady talked in this high, kind of babyish voice and said things like "And THIS is the X-RAY machine! It's like a big . . . CAMERA! Like your mom and dad's CAMERA that takes cute pictures of you! Only pictures of your INSIDES!" I could see the kids kind of tapping their feet and thinking, "Okay, when are we going to get to the ionizing radiation?"

We did get to see a bunch of interesting x-ray pictures showing swallowed objects and nails that had gone through people's feet and so forth, and everyone liked that, despite heavy moralizing from the radiologist ("And so THAT'S why you should always let your mommy put you in your CARSEAT!"). A little moralizing never hurt anyone where broken bones are concerned, I suppose---the children were duly sobered and impressed. :)

One funny moment came when Malachi raised his hand and asked why the cords and tubing above the machine were so large. The lady began to explain ("You see, there's something called ELECTRICITY in there, like a plug in the wall---you know there are plugs for your TV in the wall, and you must NEVER stick your finger in because you might get a SHOCK? . . . ") and then Malachi understood what she was trying to say and kind of cut her off: "Oh, it's extra insulated because of the large current. Okay." She seemed rather taken aback, but at that point the tour was nearly over so it didn't do any good. :)

Naturally, in the days that followed, Sebby made several of his own x-rays (each one a cautionary tale) showing horribly fractured arms and legs, as well as people who had swallowed saws, staplers and open safety pins.

Radioactivity

Radioactivity is such an interesting phenomenon. We loved learning more about it. I highly recommend this book, not for reading aloud (it's way too long and on more of a high-school level) but just for a fascinating (and unbiased) overview of the subject. I learned so much from reading this.

Here's a nice little animation to demonstrate half-life and radioactive decay.

This is a really interesting chart showing radiation dosages for various things. The children thought this was the most hilarious sentence in the world:

"Using a cell phone* does not produce ionizing radiation and does not cause cancer. (*Unless it's a bananaphone)"

Bananas, you see, contain potassium and thus give a small dose of radiation (more than a cell phone, evidently). Now the children are obsessed with holding bananas to their ears and saying, "Hello?" They think it is THE FUNNIEST JOKE.

No, actually, I take that back. They think this video contains the funniest joke: when Robert Krampf says, "Does radioactivity turn you into some horrible monster?" and then suddenly appears wearing a big bunny suit. We love The Happy Scientist! This is a good, concise explanation of radioactivity and the cloud chamber looks like a really cool project to try. We didn't attempt it this time because it seemed like it would be so much better with a radioactive source, and we didn't have one. :) But it's really amazing to see the "trails" left by alpha and beta radiation!

Along with naturally occurring radiation, we learned about the uses of radiation in medicine. We had a field trip to the Radiology department of the hospital planned, so in preparation for that we learned how X-ray machines and CT Scans work, and about radiation therapy for cancer. We also really enjoyed this picture gallery of interesting x-ray pictures. The photographer took x-ray photos of unusual things like jet airplanes and football players in uniform. So cool!

Here is a video about CT scanners
And here's one about radiation therapy for prostate cancer

Isotopes (or, as we called them, eggotopes)

Regular Hydrogen with its isotopes, deuterium and tritium

I've always thought isotopes were a little tricky to visualize. But the concept is critical to understanding radioactivity and the uranium enrichment process! Luckily I found this great idea from a junior high science teacher online. You use colored eggs to represent elements. Each isotope of an element is in the same color. Inside, you make a nucleus with beads, showing the number of protons and neutrons in each isotope. The model leaves out electrons altogether, as they aren't relevant here.

(One thing the children were SO interested in was half-life---specifically, how some elements have such a short half-life that they decay almost immediately. Protactinium, for example, would have been totally gone from the earth only hours after it first appeared. They loved that idea, for some reason.)

We really liked doing this, and we also used the eggs later on in the unit for reference. I had really small plastic eggs, so we only did some of the lighter elements, but it would have been fun to make an egg for U-235 and U-238 if we'd had one big enough to hold that many beads! I just looked up a list of common isotopes (some radioactive, some not) such as Carbon-14 and of course the three isotopes of Hydrogen. (That knowledge would be necessary for learning about nuclear fusion later!)

Here's a simple online explanation of isotopes.

Also, stringing beads is fun!

Sulfur-32 and Sulfur-35 (radioactive)