Radiation, radioactivity and your local environment

辐射和放射性是一个谜，在核物理学的中心，因为这个物理学领域的创建。它是一个科学领域，在那里惊人的发现和创造力的飞跃解开了自然隐藏的秘密，但也是一个科学领域，它的应用可以（并已经）造成很多好处和伤害。与应用核物理学相关的风险很小，但实现这种风险的后果可能是巨大的。这一点在两年前的福岛第一核电站事故中再次得到了证明。尽管地理距离遥远，时间已经过去，但福岛第一核电站事故仍有可能成为英国的头条新闻。不久前，切尔诺贝利事故的后果在英国仍然可以感受到。但是，与确保我们未来能源供应的迫切需要相联系，英国正在积极讨论新建核能。因此，公众能够对辐射的好处、风险和缺点做出有教育意义的判断，并正确看待辐射水平，这一点非常重要。大学和学术机构被视为就有争议的问题提供独立专家信息的来源，因此最适合向公众提供信息和解释。我们希望提高人们对自然和人为放射性和辐射源的认识，重点关注人们花费时间的辐射环境。我们将：-与尽可能广泛的受众接触，从学校开始，因为他们很容易通过我们现有的联系，然后扩展到科学节，科学中心和更广泛的公众;-提供移动的基础核物理实验，展示放射性衰变，同位素识别，辐射衰减和天然放射源。这些实验将有可能与最少的指令观众;-通过简单的盖革计数器从智能手机操作提供一个数据收集工具，显示苏格兰人民的辐射地图上的一个免费的网站;因此，我们将与广泛的观众互动，让他们的研究方法和数据收集的所有权，从而不仅展示核物理，但在更广泛的意义上的科学方法。该项目的总体目标和总体影响可归纳为三个主要专题：-通过使用影响当地人民生活的简单但相关的测量方法，提高对科学方法的认识;-教育感兴趣的公众了解核物理和放射性的基本原理以及辐射与物质的相互作用;- 通过收集位置敏感伽马剂量率并将其纳入在线地图，提供“公民科学”的实例。

Radiation and radioactivity are a mystery at the centre of nuclear physics ever since the creation of this field of physics. It is one of the fields of science where breathtaking discoveries and leaps of creativity unlocked the hidden secrets of nature, but also one of the fields of science where its application can (and has) caused much good and much harm. The risk associated with applied nuclear physics is small, the consequences of the realisation of this risk can be immense. This has been shown again two years ago in the aftermath of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident, which despite its geographical distance and the time passed still has the potential to make headlines in the UK. And the consequences of the Chernobyl accident were still felt in the UK not too long ago. But linked with the pressing need to secure our future energy supplies, nuclear new built is actively discussed in the UK.It is therefore important that the general population can make an educated judgement on the advantages, risks and disadvantages associated with radiation and put radiation levels into perspective. Universities and academics are seen as sources of independent expert information on controversial issues and are thus best placed to provide information and interpretation to the general population. We want to raise the awareness on natural and man-made sources of radioactivity and radiation, focussing on the radiation environment where people spend their time. We will:- engage with as wide an audience as possible, starting from schools as they are easily accessible through our existing links, and then extending to science festivals, science centres and the wider public;- provide mobile fundamental nuclear physics experiments which demonstrate radioactive decay, isotope identification, attenuation of radiation and natural radioactive sources. These experiments will be possible with minimal instruction to the audience;- provide a data collection tool through simple Geiger counters operated from smartphones, displaying a people's radiation map of Scotland on a free web site;We will thus interact with a wide range of audiences, giving them ownership of the research methods and data collection, thus demonstrating not only nuclear physics, but in a broader sense the scientific method. The overarching aims and overall impact of the project can be summarised in three main topics;- raise awareness for the scientific method by using a simple but relevant measurement impacting on people's local life;- educate the interested public on the fundamentals of nuclear physics and radioactivity as well as the interaction of radiation with matter;- provide an example of "citizen science" by collecting position sensitive gamma dose rates and integrate them into an online map.