Danger Will Robinson!

Radiation shielded GoPro sent through electron beam irradiator GOPR0055 2,5mev6ma
Andrew Seltzman

Nothing much to see until about halfway through and then it happens all at once. Very spooky.

YouTube blurb:

Radiation shielded Gopro Hero 3+ Silver sent through electron beam irradiator. Looking at calcite samples as they pass under the beam. GoPro is enclosed in a 1/4" thick lead box with a 1" thick, 50% lead glass window. Additionally there is a 1/4" thick lead plate above the camera box to provide shielding from direct irradiation from the beam.

Comment:

What you are seeing is the exiting electrons with an energy of 2.5 millions volts d.c.dynamitron accelerator.  At 6mA of beam, it is a spot roughly 1" in diameter equal to 15KW of power. This beam spot is scanned over 3 feet in length to be useful in processing, and to dissipate the heat.  When the camera turns the last corner, you begin to see what looks like static or snow and becomes more intense as it approaches the beam scanner.  This is due to the x-rays generated by the high energy electrons and are the most intense where the electron beam hits any solid object, directly beneath the beam scanner.  When the beam passes directly over the camera enclosure, the highest level of x-rays effect the camera electronics.  Not sure of what the enclosure was made of (lead is the best), but at this energy the forward x-rays are very high and will penetrate the shielding if not thick enough.  Lead glass, unless really thick, >20" for these energies), will not stop the x-rays.  usually cameras tend to degrade after some amount of exposure to this radiation.  Either the image capturing element and or electronics.  Also, typically you will need greater than 7MeV to start creating short lived radioactivity. - @jamesscheid5593

Okay, so I read all that, but now I'm wondering how do you get 15KW (kilowatts) of power with 6mA (milliamps of current). But now I remember that volts times amps equals watts, and we've got 2.5 million volts, so we've got million times milli so we're down to kilo. 6 times 2.5 is 15. Huh, it works out. But I still don't know what I'm talking about here.

Dynamitron

A Dynamitron? What the heck is that, and why haven't I ever heard of one? Whatever it is, it's a honking big piece of equipment. Wikipedia has a page, and I read through the explanation, but it's mostly Greek to me.

And I still don't know what they are using it for.