A lead castle, also called a lead cave or a lead housing, is a structure composed of bricks made of lead. Lead castles are a type of lead shielding and are used to enclose small radioactive sources and/or radiation detectors. They are used during nuclear research and testing. The castle may enclose the radioactive source to shield people from radiation or it may be used to shield sensitive detectors from ambient gamma radiation. If the experiment is to be observed, a viewing window of lead glass may be used. A typical lead brick weighs about ten kilograms. Lead castles can be made of hundreds of bricks and weigh thousands of kilograms, so the floor must be able to withstand a heavy load. It is best to set one up on the ground floor or basement of a building built on a concrete slab. If the castle is not put directly on the floor, it will require a very strong structure to safely support it.
Famous quotes containing the words lead and/or castle:
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”
—Bible: New Testament Jesus, in Matthew, 15:14.
Referring to the Pharisees.
“The splendor falls on castle walls
And snowy summits old in story;
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.”
—Alfred Tennyson (1809–1892)