X-Rays from a Night Light

Inspired by AScannerClearly. I looked through my night lights and found one that fluoresced green under high voltage which indicated a high vacuum. I limited the current through the ignition coil with 5 ohms so that it wouldn't spark over the bulb.The open air spark was about 1/2". A Geiger counter indicated that x-rays were being produced. My video show the reading at a distance of about 6" from the bulb.
I later decreased the resistance to 3.33 ohms and got even more x-ray output without breakdown.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• xray
• x-ray
• radiation
• Geiger
• counter
• induction
• coil
• ignition
• dx-1

[totoff92]

these ARENT X RAYS!! you cant produce xrays this way ; your geiger counter is only showing radio waves created by the HV discharge ; if you dont believe me try to take an X ray photo with some dental radio-film and you will see ; or u can also use a piece of an old radioscopic screen (I did it too)..

sorry to dissapoint you.

[helixwinder]

@totoff92 I don't have the resources to know for sure, but did you read my comment to phikre? Why would I get a reading with some bulbs and not others and no reading with an open air discharge? I welcome an explanation since I'm here to learn. What's your "buzz?"

[phikre]

Are you sure that you produced X-rays?

I tried kind of the same setup and the ticks i got from my geigercounter just were caused by the electromagnetic disturbances of the sparks and the oscillator circuit.

The fact that X-rays can only be produced by DC current confirms my objection.

[helixwinder]

@phikre I'm pretty sure that I'm getting soft x-rays. I didn't show it, but I ran the circuit without the bulb and didn't get any reading with and without the hv sparking. I also tried other similar bulbs, even the same brand, that did not produce any reading either--it depends if the bulb has a relatively high vacuum and many do not. The one I used had a green fluorescence. You can get x-rays from AC, if fact the first x-ray tubes used Tesla coils or induction coils. DC is much better though.

[AScannerClearly]

Pretty nice set-up, I love the DIY circuits people come up with over my easier abusing pre-made electronics lol. What voltage is the circuit, and also were you able to rule out EMF fields causing the counter to click? If you can put the meter inside of a steel box to filter out EMFs and still get clicks or if it obeys the inverse square law and drops off gradually instead of suddenly to 0 at a certain distance, that'll be good sign that you've been victorious. ^_^

[helixwinder]

@AScannerClearly The spark distance is about 1/2" so I think it's about 25 kv, any more voltage and it will spark over. An open air spark gives a click every 2 seconds or so when about 1 foot or less away. With the bulb in place, I get decreasing readings at up to about 5 or 6 feet and there is some directionality but I haven't determined what the angle(s) is as yet. Eight thicknesses of Al foil don't seem to have much of an effect but a 1/32" Al or steel plate does.

[jeffddow]

@totoff92 those are xrays my friend, theres not reason they shouldnt be. granted the meter will pick up some noise, that glass in fluorescing green, which is a sign of xrays. plus some bulbs have a vacuum in the to protect the filament

[Huffdev]

@totoff92 Geiger counters cant detect radiowaves.. You would need special equipment for that. Geiger counters only Detect (a) Alpha (b) Beta (y) Gamma

[wbeaty]

@BankaiIchigo12345 w/incandescent bulbs, the fluorescence (green or blue, depending glass type) all comes from electron bombardment. X-ray flux is also from the glass. Don't know if filament emits much if any x-rays. 6BC-1, 6VS-1 tube glass does glow. Dental tube glass doesn't glow at uA drive, but I've never run it full blast (several mA.) Ebay has has kodak lanex x-ray intensifier cassettes, also called "green-screen" or "rare-earth." Try for under $25

[mechanicalbu11]

@helixwinder i think 30 keV or more is needed for energies to produce x-rays, i remember this from my study of high energy physics long ago. X rays accrue in two short bursts (at the spark gap), one near the time of the peak voltage and one during the time that the voltage collapsed in the gap.

[BankaiIchigo12345]

@wbeaty

That's odd. You'd think glass would emit less light from xray exposure than a dedicated fluorescent screen. Maybe the light bulb fluorescence is actually from electron bombardment, not from xray exposure. Then the next question is, does your dental xray tube have glass fluorescing too, or just the light bulb? By the way where can I buy a lanex or other fluorescent xray screen?

[wbeaty]

@BankaiIchigo12345 Not quite true. Just test your particular GM counter by waving the end of your active HV coil near various parts. The Ludlum ignores this, but another older counter at work is poorly shielded and does give high artifact counts if the HV AC comes anywhere near its probe coil cord. Solution for the skeptical: good EM shielding. Wrap entire counter+probe in a single foil faraday shield. Or use a small kit-built GM counter inside a diecast Al box.

[wbeaty]

@BankaiIchigo12345 Maybe this changes with tiny bulbs, and w/spark coils down below 20KV? I had an uncoated high-vac "exit sign bulb" flash green glass fluorescece, powered w/Vacuum-Tester type tesla coil, yet no visible output from lanex cartridge intensifier screen, and my large-window Ludlum pancake probe gave only 100s CPM at inches distance. Compare to dental tube run 15KV reg. DC gave slight visible flicker of lanex screen, gives GM count of many 1000s CPM.

[Roobert33]

Very nice!

[BankaiIchigo12345]

@wbeaty

Another test if if your bulb is fluorescing, but it's a WHOLE LOT harder to get uncoated glass to fluoresce than it is to get an xray fluorescent plate to fluoresce, so if your uncoated glass bulb is fluorescing you are generating a HUGE ammount of xrays. That's not safe. I'd depend on a fluorescent xray plate (a.k.a. fluoroscope plate) to tell me if I'm generating xrays.

[BankaiIchigo12345]

@wbeaty

GM tubes can pick up background radiation, and since they depend on ionized gas (which can also occur from strong RF signal like from a tesla coil, or a high voltage discharge source due to the inductive-capacitive effects of the wiring creating an RF oscillator with the spark to complete the circuit) you will have no way of knowing what's triggering the GM tube. Only something SPECIFICALLY xray sensitive (like a fluorescent xray plate) will tell you if you are making xrays.