Need information!

[ronthepon]

I am supposed to be doing a project in which I measure the relative amounts of radiation different organisms can endure.

 

How can I get radiation?

 

Will UV rays work? If yes, how do I get strong enough UV rays?

 

What organisms should I try and how long could they survive in the exposure periods?

[ronthepon]

Oh... er and tell me if it's not possible so that I dont waste my time thinking about it.

[cwes99_03]

My recommendation is that you strongly look at your constants before engaging in any such work.

The reason being that I once attempted such a study on leopard frog eggs to see if they would even develope into tadpoles. I only had one control group being given regular light from a low watt incandescent bulb. Problem is I cooked the eggs, as far as I know, they got too hot and none of them developed.

 

Second recommendation would be testing this treatment on microbes. They are easy to come by (just go down to the nearest pond or body of water.

 

Third recommendation. I used a black light to provide my UV rays. I would first monitor the black light in a dark room with some UV meters to learn what to expect at varying angles and degrees. This will help you determine the amounts of UV radiation your subjects may receive. Then to vary it up, maybe find some UV filters and see how much they actually let through.

 

I love a good experiment, because it often leads to a host of other interesting short experiments.

[UncleAl]

What kind of radiation? Alpha, beta, gamma, x-ray; UV, visible, near-IR, mid-IR, far-IR; microwave, FM, AM; static or dynamic magnetic fields (AC coil); static or dynamic magnetic fields...

 

UV fluorescent lamps are available as blacklight, UVA, UVB, UVC, germicidal UV, and sunlamps.

 

Plate yeast onto agar in Petri dishes. Zap them during log growth phase. Fish kissers eat leavened bread and don' suggle up to yeast. Better would be to contrast white with pigmented bugs like Sarcina lutea, Serratia marcescens, Micrococcus roseus, Chromobacterium violaceum,

 

http://www.pelletlab.com/living--bacteria.htm

http://www.sargentwelch.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_WL23814_ST_A_Basic+Pigmented+Bacteria+Set_E_

pigmented bacteria sets

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14067916&dopt=Abstract

[ronthepon]

Will I find any macroscopic organism which will die due to prolonged radiation from any of the home sources. Blacklight for example.

[Roadam]

Exposure to black light would have the same effect as if you shave the animals and put them bathing on the sun for a long while. When enough of their skin would get burnt, they would die.

[cwes99_03]

But bacterium are much more susceptible, thus the reason we suggested them. Of course, that and the ethical issues of using animals.

[ronthepon]

Okay, thanks then.