Thank you to everyone who attended our Nuclear Science and Technology Q&A event as part of MIT’s Open House! On April 23rd, MIT opened up its doors to the public for “Under the Dome,” a free, day-long, campus-wide open house for all ages. MIT welcomed the public to explore the important and fun work that takes place on campus.
About 100 visitors came to our Q&A and learned about how the MIT reactor works and what experiments are done at the facility, various natural sources of radiation, different ways radiation can be detected, spectroscopy and how gamma rays emitted by radioactive sources can be used to figure out what kind of radioactive isotope is in the source, as well as the answers to any questions they asked. It was a pleasure to feed everyone’s curiosity! We look forward to participating in similar events like this in the future. Take a look at some photos from the event below!
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Explaining the design of the MIT reactor
Participants were surprised about facts where everyday sources of natural radiation can be found
Answering questions from all ages!
Answering questions from all ages! Multiple staff members were on hand to field insightful questions from attendees
Demonstrating how spectroscopy works
Spectroscopy was a new concept for many visitors
High school students took the opportunity to ask about what it’s like to work at the reactor
Answering questions with a smile!
Our youngest attendees enjoying their time at the event
Explaining how a Geiger counter works to detect radiation using natural sources (such as granite) as examples
Explaining how spectroscopy gives you a readout of what gamma rays are being emitted from a source and how you can use that to find out what kind of isotope they belong to
Our staff members were more than happy to help answer questions from the public and teach them about nuclear science and technology
The display from the spectroscopy station showing the gamma ray spectrum of an orange Fiestaware cup. The red peaks on the display show the gamma rays being emitted from the radioactive decay of the natural uranium used in the glaze on the cup
Giving a hands-on approach to detecting radiation using a Geiger counter and natural sources of radiation