Crookes Radiometer SC001, £14.99 inc UK P&P

Witness the awesome power of radiation from the Sun in the comfort and safety of your own home. That’s right, anythingradioactive.com brings you the remarkable Crookes Radiometer, an ingenious device for converting solar radiation into mechanical motion. Just place the Radiometer in sunlight, or even the beam of a bright torch and the black and white vanes inside the glass bulb begin to spin, and the brighter the light, the faster they go. This fascinating and educational scientific instrument requires no batteries, there are no wires and nothing to wear out. If you want to know the secret of how it works see opposite. Size approx 120mm high by 75mm diameter. Glass, so handle wth care; for ages 8 years and above.

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26-Piece Mad Scientist Starter Kit SC002, £12.00 inc. UK P&P  

*NEW LOW PRICE*   

After all you’ve got to start somewhere if you want to interfere with the laws of nature, fiddle around with some DNA or just create some unusual smells...  anythingradioactive.com can help you on your way with this exclusive collection of genuine laboratory glassware. The outfit includes a calibrated 250ml borosilicate conical glass flask and bored bung, four 14mm Pyrex borosilicate glass test tubes and bored rubber bungs,  3 glass chemical storage bottles (approx 150, 50 and 30ml), two glass droppers (for the 30 and 50ml bottles), 10 (count them) 75 x 25mm clear glass microscope slides and one lidded plastic Petri Dish for your bacteriological cultures.

These are the real deal, high quality items intended for laboratory use and ideal for budding chemists. They are also really elegant examples of the scientific glassmaker’s craft and make excellent vases for small flowers, or why not fill them with some coloured water and put them on a sunny windowsill for some spectacular lighting effects? It’s up to you!   (N.B. contents  may vary slightly according to stock)

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Periodic Table Poster (P001) £4.50 inc. UK p&p                            

Get to know the radioactive elements with this colourful and superbly well-designed Periodic table. The radioactive ones, and there are plenty to choose from, are clearly indicated with the radiation symbol. Each element on the table shows its Relative Atomic Mass, Mass Number, Chemical Name, Atomic Number, Chemical Symbol and Electron Configurations. There are also informative sidebars on the various groups (Alkali Metals, Transition Metals - or ‘D-Block’ elements), Alkaline Earth Metals, Group 4 Elements, Group 7 (The Halogens) Group 0 (Noble Gasses) plus the Structure of an Atom and a short biography of Dmitri Mendleev, the first chemist to propose the arrangement of the elements in the present day Periodic Table.

The poster measures approximately 60 x 40 cm, and is laminated with a resilient wipe-clean surface. It will be supplied in a mailing tube for secure postage anywhere in the world.

Order online or click Here to order by post. We also ship worldwide, please click for prices and information.

Crookes Radiometer

The Radiometer was invented by noted chemist  Sir William Crookes, back in 1873. The glass bulb is evacuated to create a partial vacuum; inside the globe there are four vanes – matt black one one side, white on the other -- and these are mounted on a simple pointed bearing to reduce friction.

Crookes and many other prominent scientists of the day originally believed the vanes were moved by the ‘pressure’ of the light waves striking them, however, we now understand it to be due to a combination of effects.

Infra red radiation is absorbed by the black side of the vane and reflected by the white side. Gas molecules striking the warmed black surface bounce off with increased energy (compared with the white vanes), and therefore impart a minute pressure on the surface. The second effect is known as Thermal Transpiration, and this produces a flow of gas molecules around the edges of the vanes, from the cold (white) side to the black side. This results in a tiny pressure difference between the two sides, causing the vanes to move