magnus454
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Ion Chamber
So I scrapped a simple ION chamber together from a soup can, aluminum wire, part of a pen cap, some super glue. I powered it with my bench top power
supply which tops out around 37 Volts, and used my recently overhauled Keithley 610B electrometer. I'd get better results with a 50 to 100 Volt
supply, but you see the effect. I do have my Victoreen 717 ion meter that recently failed somewhere in it's antiquated electronics, and now reads full
scale all the time when turned on. I may pull the ion chamber from it, and build a high voltage power supply for my lab like 50-100Volt output. Soon I
should have a sweep generator, so some of my other projects that require some electronic filter circuits and such will be easier to build and test
(i.e. my piezoelectric seismometer amplifier with > Hz filter).
See my ion chamber video;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRFgZTDjqTc&context=C4098...
History is repeating itself.
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bfesser
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Very interesting demonstration. Good work. Not too sure you should be showing video of yourself fiddling with <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_americium#Americium-241" target="_blank"><sup>241</sup>Am</a> <img
src="../scipics/_wiki.png" /> taken out of smoke detectors, though. This is illegal to do, if I recall correctly.
| Quote: | Smoke detector element.
I'm told it's illegal to disassemble a smoke detector and remove the tiny radioactive dot that is contained in every ionization detector. But I did
anyway, using an old one in May 2002. Considering that probably many thousands of these are disposed of (also technically illegally) in the garbage
every year, I'm hardly the only one to mishandle the dots. My americium dot is now contained in a glued-shut box with a glass top that is harder to
disassemble than the smoke detector was, and then inside a lead cup with a lid, just so our personnel manager doesn't freak out.
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Source: http://periodictable.com/Elements/095/index.html
A quick Google search yields many secondary sources claiming that it's illegal, but no primary source—the actual law(s). Does anyone know
more details on this for the United States? Perhaps regulations are listed somewhere on the <a href="http://www.nrc.gov/" target="_blank">NRC
website</a> <img src="../scipics/_ext.png" />?
[Edited on 7/9/13 by bfesser]
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gutter_ca
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Not illegal to dispose , per EPA and NRC
It appears as though individuals are allowed to possess it in a smoke detector. Out of it, probably not, but it isn't spelled out clearly.
<!-- bfesser_edit_tag -->[<a href="u2u.php?action=send&username=bfesser">bfesser</a>: removed
unnecessary quote(s)]
[Edited on 7/9/13 by bfesser]
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bbartlog
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A lot of the stuff that is done on here (thinking of energetic materials) is probably in violation of some law. I wouldn't worry about a single
americium dot.
The less you bet, the more you lose when you win.
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bfesser
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bbartlog, that is true. But do you post your legally questionable activities on YouTube? (I'm not asking that as a rhetorical question; I generally
ignore activity in the EM forum.)
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bbartlog
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No, I don't do experiments with energetics - I'm not good enough at being careful to work on a large scale (with such materials) and find working with
sub-gram quantities of stuff to be unsatisfying. So other than some possible excursions into propellants like ammonium perchlorate, no EM for me.
But broadly - not even speaking now of hobby chemistry - the profusion of laws is so great that most everyone is some sort of violator. I expect some
of my activities with raw milk are illegal; likewise letting my four cows drink directly from the stream on my property is not really legal. But the
mountains are high, and the emperor is far away, as they say in China.
The less you bet, the more you lose when you win.
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neptunium
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Quote: Originally posted by bbartlog  | | the profusion of laws is so great that most everyone is some sort of violator. I expect some of my activities with raw milk are illegal; likewise
letting my four cows drink directly from the stream on my property is not really legal. But the mountains are high, and the emperor is far away, as
they say in China. |
this is very true... there is so many ridiculous laws I am and you are probably breaking one right now.
But if you know its illegal why even talk about it on the internet? although you probably wont be harrased ,why even take a single chance?
if you dont have a valid license why are do not doing the speed limit? as they say in hood
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Ozone
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I say "meh" over such a trifling source, but--there is a general license written that extends the use of the material to the general public. To be
sure,you would have to review the terms of the license, which now that I think of it, I've never actually seen. It should be public domain, somewhere.
Just don't eat the thing and it should OK.
O3
-Anyone who never made a mistake never tried anything new.
--Albert Einstein
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neptunium
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what the hell are you talking about ???
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