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Banned on 1/22/2011 for repeated rule violations after multiple warnings. Registered Member #3299
Joined: Sat Oct 09 2010, 08:11PM
Location: Bantown, USA
Posts: 220
how do i do this,
the thorium will speed up the the fission of americium, and my goal is to make a tiny reactor,
not sure if this is ileagal, or against the forum rules, but if it is, come and arrest me I don't care!
Registered Member #2431
Joined: Tue Oct 13 2009, 09:47PM
Location: Chico, CA. USA
Posts: 5639
i hope you dont die.
also, do you know what energies the effective nuclear cross section of americum is sensitve too? thorium may not do what you think under STP. The "nuclear boy scout" may not be the example you want to follow. i hope you can do the calculus (i think its integration) for moderation, and i hope you have a lot of lead.
Banned on 1/22/2011 for repeated rule violations after multiple warnings. Registered Member #3299
Joined: Sat Oct 09 2010, 08:11PM
Location: Bantown, USA
Posts: 220
americium emits alpha particles that can't even penetrate paper, i'm using the thorium to speed up the tiny fission this americium goes thought, maybe i could boil water
any ways sence that won't work i'll have to figure something else out,
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Posts: 1042
Americium from smoke detectors is illegal, and other than that it is restricted
I do believe that even small fission based devices, even if using exempt materials, are regulated as "dangerous neutron emitters" in some states (not sure about what the NRC has to say).
Do your homework, maybe work with a University to find out more. Even if your not a student I've found emailing a professor in a related department more than useful in the past.
I suggest you try something else, as this is one of those VERY touchy subjects that even if there is a legal loophole it will cause chaos in terms of regulators and people that might be concerned.
Registered Member #2893
Joined: Tue Jun 01 2010, 09:25PM
Location: Cali-forn. i. a.
Posts: 2242
You'd need a ridiculous amount of radiation to make enough decay heat to boil H2O. A lethal amount of radiation. You'd need something like several curies of a substance like radium, not 1uCi of Am. The nuclear boy scout experiment is really only good for bragging rights, not for generating any decent amount of power.
Heating the mantles in the presence of lithium inside tinfoil is ho David did it, but I wouldn't expect any quality thorium from it. You can buy thorium at some big chem supply companies, but at $1,000 for a 1" foil suare it ain't cheap.
He also used radium salt to generate alphas after he figured that the radiation from 1,000 smoke detector sources was too weak. radium can be isolated from undark paint like so.
I plan on doing the nuclear boy scout experiment myself some time in the distant future, but unlike Hahn I plan on doing it right.
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