Although typically asked in jest, it is still the most common question that any seasoned nuclear medicine technologist has had to answer. “Am I gonna glow in the dark?” The short answer to this is no, but it would be a cool side effect. However, a longer explanation about this myth may help to shed some “light” on its origins, as well as provide a better understanding of how a nuclear medicine image appears.
Madam Curie started the myth
Madam Marie Curie started the whole ball rolling with “glowing radiation” when she was able to concentrate a small amount of radium into a test tube. In the concentrated form, radium gives off a bright blue light, which Madam Curie used as a night light (Smith 2008). By the early 1900’s, scientists had developed glow in the dark paint by mixing radium with other compounds. This was used on such things as watches.
Radiation does not play well with other compounds
The light that Madam Curie saw was not the radioactive element glowing; instead it was the reaction of the radiation with other specific elements near it. This is the point when most scientists or physicists would begin to discuss protons, neutrons, electrons, decay and half-lives, as well as alpha, beta and gamma radiation. However, all of it can be summed up in the simplest of terms, that being energy.
The world, that we live in demands perfect order. The molecular balance of the elements is no different. This is one of those specifics that evolution is unable to explain. Every element, to be stable and happy, needs to be in perfect harmony with the amount of energy that it contains. Isotopes (radioactive elements) don’t have that harmony, so they attempt to release energy until they become stable and happy as a new element.
The energy that is released will, at times, interact with and affect the energy of nearby elements, causing them to rearrange and release more energy to stay stable. When these secondary elements let go of the needed energy it can sometimes be seen by the naked eye as a flash of light. This is what creates the illusion of glowing radiation.
Think about this: radium, the compound that Curie first isolated, is found almost everywhere in the world (Chandra 1998). It is in very small quantities in most places; barely enough to raise background radiation levels, but it is there. If radium itself had the blue hue to it, then the entire planet would have a neat bright blue glow. There are other instances when radioactive compounds can appear to glow, but it is due to its interaction with the surrounding environment, not the radiation itself.
Energy is the indestructible force
It is a very basic law of nature that energy cannot be created or destroyed. There is no need to go into the deeper spectrum of kinetic or potential energy. All that needs to be understood is that there is a specific amount of force in the world known as energy. Nature demands that all of it be accounted for at all times. The flash of light is known as scintillation and is the result of nature accounting for the excessive amount of energy left when the molecules are finished throwing particles at each other. (Ok, so they don’t actually throw stuff at each other, but you understand that energy is being transferred. Right?)
The scintillating gamma camera
In nuclear medicine most people refer to the equipment as a gamma camera. The proper name is actually a scintillation camera. It is from the premise of Madam Curies’ glowing radium that doctors can watch molecular physiology of the human body. Radiation coming out of the patient hits a very specialized crystal which causes the flash of light or scintillation as energy is transferred. This light can’t be detected by the human eye but is captured by a computer process which can determine the precise point of origin of the gamma ray.
Being injected by a radioactive tracer (it is NOT a dye or medicine) for a nuclear medicine procedure will not enable you to glow in the dark, but the process of the myth's origin is more closely related to your diagnostic outcome than you might have guessed.
This article barely skims the surface of nuclear physics and all of the mystery that the field offers. This is not the intent of the material, but instead to assure those who may be having a nuclear medicine procedure done, that they should not be concerned about any harmful effects from the low amount of radiation. This includes becoming a night light for their spouse.
As a final note to nuclear medicine patients, due to the post 9-11 world we live in, be aware that you will be radioactive for a short amount of time following the procedure. Be prepared to identify your post test condition to security personnel at places such as airports and border crossings.
Bibliography
Chandra, Ramesh. Nuclear Medicine Physics. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins, 1998.
Early, Paul J. & Sodee, D. Bruce. Principles and Practices of Nuclear Medicine. St. Louis: Mosby, 1995.
Smith, Chris. "It Don't Necessarily Glow Bro!" thenakedscientists.com 07 2008. .
Unknown. www.depletedcranium.com. 2008 04. http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://depletedcranium.com/radioactivehomer.jpg&imgrefurl=http://depletedcranium.com/why-does-radioactive-stuff-glow-green-or-why-do-people-think-it-does/&usg=__4qblFb9i2_tgP6Vg7z_Qt44RpHs=&h=270&w=360&sz=33&hl=en&start.
Keith Martin - CREDENTIALS. My freelance writing work is broken down into the three primary categories of Faith, Diagnostic Imaging, and Mountain ...
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