London, England/london2G-560
Previous | Home | NextCrookes also invented a spinthariscope, which enabled one to view literally individual flashes of light as atoms of radium decayed. The design of the spinthariscope included a magnifying lens at one end and a phosphorescent screen (typically zinc sulfide) and a grain of radioactive material at the other. Amazingly, spinthariscopes were available under the name of "Lone Ranger Atom Bomb Rings" in the mid-1940s for 15 cents and a box top from KIX cereal. Instead of radium, however, the shorter-lived polonium was used. Another example of a spinthariscope is displayed at the Royal Institution {LINK: London2C-154}.
