Admagistr
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Electrostatic generator from Alpha,or Beta emitters!
I'm pursuing the idea of creating an electrostatic generator from Alpha,or Beta, emitters. The idea is to place a source that emits electrically
charged particles on the pad a very well-insulated to ground in a vacuum and place near it a rounded insulated metal to earth,which does not interact
with alpha or beta radiation. What do you think will it work? And what kind of emitters is effective for this and available to an amateur?
[Edited on 21-11-2021 by Admagistr]
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Sulaiman
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Calculate the coulombs per second based on the number of charged particles per second,
then consider the hazards of such sources considering manufacture, transport, storage, disposal and accidents.
Its a non-starter.
Electronic (flyback transformers, voltage multipliers etc.) methods are simple, cheap and MUCH safer.
CAUTION : Hobby Chemist, not Professional or even Amateur
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Twospoons
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Yes, it should work. Am 241 and tritium come to mind as most accessible. With an Alpha decay energy of >5MeV it should be possible to reach
millions of volts with Am241.
But is it practical? One smoke detector has only a fraction of a microgram of Am241 -> activity of 37kBq, which would provide a charging current of
~0.0046pA. That would charge one picofarad of terminal capacitance to 1 volt in about 3 1/2 minutes.
So to get any kind of substantial charge, on any kind of reasonably useful size terminal capacitance, is going to take a very long time or need quite
a bit of radioactive material.
Somebody check my math - but I'm fairly sure thats about right.
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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zwt2
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It sounds like you're trying to make a Moseley-style atomic battery.
"The attainment of high potentials by the use of radium" by H. G. J. Moseley
"Since you belong to the small number of wise men... tell me, how do you occupy yourselves?"
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Admagistr
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Thanks very much guys! I didn't know anything about Moseley atomic battery until now, great information for me! Thanks for the calculations too! I
have one more question, americium, or tritium in sufficient quantity is unavailable to the amateur. Could a thorium compound be used too? In
sufficient quantities an amateur could occasionally get to it, if he is very lucky and had a lot of money... But the problem I see is that thorium
turns into different isotopes of other elements that release gamma, or Beta radiation:-(
This radiation ionizes the environment and could abolish the resulting charges. Do you see a solution? Such a battery based on thorium compounds
would, of course, give much less power than an americium or a tritium battery...One other way I can think of is to create a really big Van De Graaff
generator and accelerate some charged particles and, through them, transform some suitable element into another which is an alpha or a beta
emitter...Such a battery could then be an "eternal" electrostatic generator! I know they are other much safer high-voltage sources have been
mentioned, but I'm curious, and I'm very attracted to the idea, it seems an original solution, and a generator/battery using a powerful emitter would
be extremely powerful!
[Edited on 21-11-2021 by Admagistr]
[Edited on 21-11-2021 by Admagistr]
[Edited on 21-11-2021 by Admagistr]
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neptunium
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I think you`d be wasting your time with Thorium. Sure it is plentiful, safe to handle and accessible fairly easily, The secular equilibrium with other
beta or gamma emitter is not really a problem considering the ridiculously long half life of Th232. And there is a big problem. its not generating
enough alpha particles to be useful in that way.
I have not seeing anybody mentioning Polonium yet ? any of you familiar with the "static master" brushes brand ?
https://amstat.com/products/anti-static-brush-with-ionizing-...
Available on amazon or ebay these source pack quite a punch and are exempt from NRC regulations. Po210 decays directly into a stable Pb206 with a
powerful alpha at about 5300 Mev...The downside of course is a much shorter 138days half life which should still leave you enough time to mess around
a little
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