Really Random Numbers.
Date: Mon, January 2, 2006
So, if you think the tin foil hat brigade isn't paranoid enough, and you want some really strong cryptography that a pseudo random number generator can't quite provide? Well, the ultimate random number generator can be built in your own home. Well, as long as you don't mind living with a chunk of Krypton-95 within close proximity...
The rest of the website is a great read, it's written by the founder of Autodesk and full of interesting little tidbits.
The rest of the website is a great read, it's written by the founder of Autodesk and full of interesting little tidbits.
Dave:
A lot of high schools have uranium and plutonium samples left over from the 50's when the government handed it out like candy.
Jim:
We had a couple of micrograms of plutonium when I went to SOSC. One of our professors was handling it and didn't know what it was. That's why you never let a theoretical physicist into your laboratory.
If you want something that's REALLY radioactive and REALLY easy to get your hands on, go to an antique shop and buy any piece of yellow or orange Fiestaware pottery made prior to the 1960s. They used uranium in the glaze to give it that unique color. In our nuclear physics lab, we had a cup and saucer that pegged the needle on our geiger counter.
You could put your coffee in that cup and it would stay hot for 10 years!
If you want an alpha emitter, you've probably got one in your house. Smoke detectors use an isotope of americium. Smoke blocks the alpha particles from reaching a detector which triggers the alarm.