Radioactive Orchestra: Making Music with Radiation

The simplicity of sci-fi-movie Geiger counters totally distorts reality. Now most laymen live with the misconception that ionizing radiation only occurs after nuclear accidents or atomic bombs. In fact, as you know, it surrounds us, and we live in a constant and invisible ion sea of radiation. The Radioactive Orchestra is an online tool that lets you convert decaying radioactive isotopes into musical notes. Watch DJ Axel Boman, helped by Swedish physicists, translate gamma cascades into music in the right-hand window, and then try it yourself at their website.

DJ Axel Boman

Here is a musical version of the video. Watch it and appreciation the interactive tool's rich sonic universe.

Now you should be inspired enough to try making your own composition. (Just pick an isotope from the upper-left corner of the tool). A fan at the New Scientist wrote about her experience:

The concept is simple. Nuclides are atomic nuclei, and when one decays it releases photons, which The Radioactive Orchestra represents as a musical note. Different nuclides emit photons of different energies, and their energy value in kiloelectronvolts (keV) is represented by the pitch of a note in hertz, constrained by the software to the musical scale. You control the overall tempo and the pitch of each decaying atomic nucleus through an intuitive interface that looks like a mixing desk. You can even change the waveform of the sound for a harsher melody line or rounder bass thump. As a bonus, you get your own (educational) music video while your composition plays: simple animations represent the decaying atoms on one side of the screen with coloured nuclei releasing their photons at different energy states.

Will this tool help non-scientists understand radioactivity?

Images: Radioactive orchestra video