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Registered Member #2048
Joined: Wed Mar 25 2009, 08:58PM
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Posts: 8
Well, you could mix 4Be9 with the ashes of a Coleman lantern mantel. The thorium in the mantel is an 2He4 emitter which is absorbed by the beryllium and a neutron is emitted. You can buy chemically pure beryllium from United Nuclear and obtain Coleman lantern mantels at Wal-Mart. Even so, I doubt if you will be able to produce a useful (or even measureable) number of neutrons.
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Posts: 1042
asimov13647 wrote ...
Well, you could mix 4Be9 with the ashes of a Coleman lantern mantel. The thorium in the mantel is an 2He4 emitter which is absorbed by the beryllium and a neutron is emitted. You can buy chemically pure beryllium from United Nuclear and obtain Coleman lantern mantels at Wal-Mart. Even so, I doubt if you will be able to produce a useful (or even measureable) number of neutrons.
a few notes: one, that is HIGHLY dangerous, two: I'm pretty sure it's (edited: regulated as industrial machinery) (regulations on neutron emitting devices IIRC), three: it defiles the point of this design, which is to use no high amounts of radiation or deep-penetrating radiation (e.g. no large amounts of shielding), four: neutrons do not carry an electrical charge; five: Coleman Lantern Mantles are no longer made with Thorium (though you can still find some here and there); Six: Beryllium is highly toxic; Seven: Processing of radioactive materials, rather than just using as-is from the manufacturer, is dangerous, many times illegal, and inefficient
but just a question, have you recently been read the Radioactive Boyscout? If you get a chance, read it and see what happens when you try to home brew neutron producing mixtures... (yes, it is a true story)
EDIT: matt pointed out a mistake, the neutron generators are not illegal as it said, it was corrected to "regulated"
Registered Member #99
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:10PM
Location: florida, usa
Posts: 637
The Rboyscout is highly overhyped. Do the math and youll see he was just an idiot rather than a threat. Also check your facts about neutron production laws. Fusors are legal and can produce plenty of neutrons. Several people have made working ones. Your right about berillium. Stay away from it.
No offense, but this thread is very lacking in factual info and should be considered for removal by a mod if nothing productive is going to come of it. So far its been alot of huge claims with NO evidence given and talk of "illegal" activity. If someone's busy body know little parents see this, they cause trouble. matt
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Posts: 1042
mattrg2 wrote ...
The Rboyscout is highly overhyped. Do the math and youll see he was just an idiot rather than a threat. Also check your facts about neutron production laws. Fusors are legal and can produce plenty of neutrons. Several people have made working ones. Your right about berillium. Stay away from it.
No offense, but this thread is very lacking in factual info and should be considered for removal by a mod if nothing productive is going to come of it. So far its been alot of huge claims with NO evidence given and talk of "illegal" activity. If someone's busy body know little parents see this, they cause trouble. matt
you are right about those laws... I double checked, sorry (it's regulated as industrial machinery, not entirely illegal... mostly environmental stuff due to the mixed chemicals, but do note this is for a chemical based generation of neutrons, not mechanical or whatever you consider a fusor along those sets of words)
as for the actual experimentation, I have to wait until summer, or somehow get a lot of equipment from a lab in a miracle... in my opinion, a mod may feel free to lock it until then if he wants and I know that the book is over-hyped, but it does make people actually think about something like mixing Beryllium with thorium before doing it...
Registered Member #193
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
DaJJHman wrote ...
here is the thing though, it is NOT that U-238 is not very active, it is that most of the radiation never leaves the sample due to its very high density... right now it is on hold due to needing some way to improve efficiency (different metals and possibly adjusting the spacing?)... it technically worked, and the clock ran (although the LCD was hard to read), but I want it to power other things too...
@Bored Chemist: part of the point of this is the extremely long life.
@mattrq2: and on the note of anything with more usable radiation being unavailable... think again: United Nuclear
also, I have more than just a few microcuries of the stuff...
OK. Let's have another look at this thread. It seems that "part of the point of this is the extremely long life." Well, as far as I can see, it won't have a long life in any meaningful way. The half life of the uranium (or whatever) isn't the issue. This thread is in chemistry because it's a chemical reaction. Once the zinc is used up, the reaction stops and there's no more electricity. Exactly the same as with an ordinary battery.
Someone is now sugesting that it would be good to follow in the footsteps of the radioactive boy scout to make neutrons. As has already been pointed out neutrons don't help here anyway. The most likely outcome would be beryllium poisoning. There's no real evidence that the idea works anyway- it might, but it is, as I said before, just replacing a potato by a serious radiation hazard and for no gain.
Registered Member #902
Joined: Sun Jul 15 2007, 08:17PM
Location: Pacific Northwest USA
Posts: 1042
Bored Chemist wrote ...
OK. Let's have another look at this thread. It seems that "part of the point of this is the extremely long life." Well, as far as I can see, it won't have a long life in any meaningful way. The half life of the uranium (or whatever) isn't the issue. This thread is in chemistry because it's a chemical reaction. Once the zinc is used up, the reaction stops and there's no more electricity. Exactly the same as with an ordinary battery.
Someone is now sugesting that it would be good to follow in the footsteps of the radioactive boy scout to make neutrons. As has already been pointed out neutrons don't help here anyway. The most likely outcome would be beryllium poisoning. There's no real evidence that the idea works anyway- it might, but it is, as I said before, just replacing a potato by a serious radiation hazard and for no gain.
Is this thread going anywhere useful?
wait, you've known that it is functioning in the same reaction as a potato battery? and kept it from the thread? THAT would have ended this fiasco of a thread (which I do admit was partially my fault, but never intended) a long time ago, and I would have certainly made the jump to a semiconductor... such as in betavoltaics, using something like silicon and a Beta only emitter.
Registered Member #99
Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:10PM
Location: florida, usa
Posts: 637
DaJJHman wrote ...
Bored Chemist wrote ...
OK. Let's have another look at this thread. It seems that "part of the point of this is the extremely long life." Well, as far as I can see, it won't have a long life in any meaningful way. The half life of the uranium (or whatever) isn't the issue. This thread is in chemistry because it's a chemical reaction. Once the zinc is used up, the reaction stops and there's no more electricity. Exactly the same as with an ordinary battery.
Someone is now sugesting that it would be good to follow in the footsteps of the radioactive boy scout to make neutrons. As has already been pointed out neutrons don't help here anyway. The most likely outcome would be beryllium poisoning. There's no real evidence that the idea works anyway- it might, but it is, as I said before, just replacing a potato by a serious radiation hazard and for no gain.
Is this thread going anywhere useful?
wait, you've known that it is functioning in the same reaction as a potato battery? and kept it from the thread? THAT would have ended this fiasco of a thread (which I do admit was partially my fault, but never intended) a long time ago, and I would have certainly made the jump to a semiconductor... such as in betavoltaics, using something like silicon and a Beta only emitter.
I beleive this WAS brought up awhile ago. Someone suggested it was a simple reaction (chemical) like a conventional battery. The problem is that you NEED ALOT of radioactivity man, not some low grade uranium ore. I have very high grade uranium ore and it does not work AT ALL as you suggest. I doubt you have anything hotter than what I have. Im not trying to brag, im just saying. You cant legally posses what you need to do this. Even if you could, it would cost you an outrageous amount of $$$ to get a real result. You need man made isotopes rather than rocks. (in high amounts). Your not the first to think about making a nuclear battery either. They exist. (real ones) And they arent a piece of uranium rock sitting on a solar cell either. I suggest you save your money and time! Matt
Registered Member #193
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 07:04AM
Location: sheffield
Posts: 1022
" wait, you've known that it is functioning in the same reaction as a potato battery? and kept it from the thread? THAT would have ended this fiasco of a thread "
Account deactivated by user request on 6/11/2009. Registered Member #1071
Joined: Fri Oct 19 2007, 02:13AM
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Posts: 44
It sounds like you are trying to use the high energy particles emitted from the radioactive sample to create a plasma then separate the ions and electrons onto different electrodes to generate a current.
The way that is typically done is by shooting the plasma down a channel that has an electrode on each side. By placing a magnet in a configuration where the magnetic field is perpendicular to both the particle velocity and the faces of the electrodes it will cause the electrons to bend into one electrode and the ions will bend into the other. These are called MHD generators, it is how an aneutronic fusion power plant might work.
An easier way might be to build a thermoelectric generator that is based on decay heat. i think they use them in pacemakers and they last for like 20 years or something. Although having something that radioactive has some safety concerns.
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nuclear battery - no fission, fusion, or betavoltaics.
