Mike,
Thanks for your detailed reply. I was playing devil's advocate
because I being a particle physicist have experiences with sources and
naturally would like to use them any advanced high school students I
teach in a lab setting. However, I was worried about the legal (and
parental) repercussions of this idea. In your college setting, it is
not such a big deal as it would be in a high school situation. I asked
my advisor today about the Tennessee state laws and he is not sure if
they have set a standard or use the federal ones. I agree that
constant, detailed, and careful monitoring eliminates almost all risks
and that are the precautions we take at the University of Tennessee and
the National Labs I visit.
Ludwik - thanks for the tip on the monitor dust. I recall this
experiment now but don't remember the details perhaps some one can
repost them or at least those references you mentioned. I doubt I will
ever be able use them but it is a dream of mine.
Thanks for the replies from all on this interesting topic.
Sam Held
P.S. Mike - we have a second-year grad student here at UT, Suzanne, who
attended Blufton College, I will have to tell her that I ran into you in
cyberspace.