Aside:- Apopogies if I am posting this in the wrong place - please tell me where I should be to ask these questions.

My home made Spinthariscope (Smoke alarm' Americium and TV screen scrapings for a screen) works OK in that i have a decent display of scintillations. HOWEVER, and here are my possibly stupid questions:-

1. I used the phosphor scrapings from a colour TV's CRT, should I not see coloured scintillations?
2 . Is it feasable to make a spinthariscope screen which, divided into say three 120 degree segments each coated with the different phosphors so as to exhibit the three primery colours?
3. Imagining for a moment that I had the money, what would be be the 'chemical name' of the three coatings requeired and if possible - where I should look to aquire them?

Doesn't the spinthariscope use alpha particles?

The CRT uses electrons.

The way I understand it:-
Yes the energy source emits alpha particles.
Alpha particles which crash into the phosphor cause photons to shoot out, not too different to electrons hitting a phosphor in a CRT, and it is these photons which a spinthariscope is designed to show. My spinthariscope works perfectly as far as I know - I can see the flashes.
My query has to do with the colour of the flashes - please reread my query and the additional questions!
Thank You!

The CRT phosphors are suitable for electrons.

ZnS:Ag (P11) blue for alpha particles and electrons. See:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphor

Here's your huckleberry:

"Risking all, I ripped apart a smoke detector and smashed an oscilloscope CRT."

http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/spin/index.html

I don't understand where I am going wrong in asking for help. I will repeat my number 1 question below. PLEASE BE AWARE THAT MY SPINTHARISCOPE IS ALREADY WORKING WITH PHOSPHOR FROM A COLOUR TV - MY QUERY IS ABOUT COLOURED SCINTILLATIONS!

1. I used the phosphor scrapings from a colour TV's CRT, should I not see coloured scintillations?

Thank you!

How can you expect an alpha particle to hit only one phosphor dot when the phosphor dot sheets with shadow masks are no longer intact?

Read the paragraph : Color TV screens have three electron beams.

http://www.tech-faq.com/how-color-television-works.html

Get one of these and let us know the emission spectrum you get.

http://www.scientificsonline.com/classroom...with-scale.html

You could be getting all three colors at once, appearing white.

I still kinda doubt the Energy(Band) Gap of TV phosphors is suitable for alpha particles.

Thanks for taking an interest!

I think I am familiar with the way colour TV CRT's work. It is precisely because there is no masking and the particles will hit random phosphor colours that I ask the question - SHOULD I NOT SEE COLOURED SCINTILLATIONS? The phosphors which produce the different colours are now randomly sprinkled on a screen - so why do I only get, a single colour, what appear to be light green scintillations?

Hitting all three colours resulting in my light green scintillations is a possibility!

Does your saying "I still kinda doubt the Energy(Band) Gap of TV phosphors is suitable for alpha particles." mean that you don't believe the device is working?

The visual scintillations of a spinthariscope are extremely faint requiring special conditions to view them. I don't think the device you mention would have a chance of working - also, the project includes the condition that I don't spend any money! But thanks for suggesting it!

Thanks Again!

Make a spectroscope from a CD.

http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/light/...ectroscope.html

If you see blue, green, and red the alpha particles are exciting too many dots at the same instant. If you also see some yellows, oranges, and violets the alpha particles are driving the dots into the continuous emission band.