MadSci Network: Physics |
The answer depends on how convoluted you like being. The type of radiation that can be seen without any equipment (and may be what you are thinking of) is called Cherenkov radiation and is produced when a charged particle enters a medium in which it is exceeding the speed of light in that medium. Bremmstrahlung is radioactive emission from accelerated particles. So the answer to your question is a conditional yes: if you can arrange things such that the bremsstrahlung is a charged particle (preferably an electron) and it is preferentially scattered into, say a big tub of water in a dark room where you are sufficiently far away so as to not get irradiated to death (since a large ammount of glow=lots of ionizing radiation), then yes you could "see" the bremsstrahlung as it expresses itself as the famous blue glow via photon emission. Otherwise, bremm is more or less like any other radiaiton: you need a detector to see for you. The nice folks at CERN have excellent reference pages on both types of radiation: For bremsstrahlung: http:// rkb.home.cern.ch/rkb/PH14pp/node16.html For Cherenkov: http:// rkb.home.cern.ch/rkb/PH14pp/node26.html Another nice little history of Cherenkov site is: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/ Relativity/SpeedOfLight/cherenkov.html A Google search on either produces more hits than you could read in a day, but what comentary on Cherenkov would be complete without a picture? http://en2.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_effect I have a picture of the core of the Maryland University Training Reactor at low power (beautiful pale blue glow) from my college days. I hope I have sufficiently answered your question! Scott Kniffin Code 561.4 Radiation Effects and Analysis Group Flight Electronics Branch NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
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