activating gold

Discussions about radiation-related science
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Peter-1
Posts: 170
Joined: 07 Oct 2016, 01:45

activating gold

Post by Peter-1 » 01 Oct 2019, 23:44

Hello,
I want to try and activate gold. Can I try this arrangement as shown in the picture, or I have no chance, as it will not produce any neutrons?
Neutronen-03.jpg
Peter
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Sesselmann
Posts: 1388
Joined: 27 Apr 2015, 11:40

Re: activating gold

Post by Sesselmann » 02 Oct 2019, 20:48

Peter,

It would be pretty cool if you could get that to work, but I very much doubt that 5 tiny Am sources will get you enough neutrons to measure let alone activate gold.

Check out the video by Carl Willis where he uses a Nuclespot Polonium source, significantly higher activity than a smoke detector.

https://youtu.be/RKyIm-o30GE

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Geoff
Posts: 141
Joined: 01 May 2015, 12:21

Re: activating gold

Post by Geoff » 04 Oct 2019, 08:12

One Pyrotronics F3/5A has as much americium as ~90 modern smoke alarms.

Conor Whyte
Posts: 126
Joined: 28 Apr 2019, 15:06

Re: activating gold

Post by Conor Whyte » 21 Nov 2019, 18:17

The experiment by Carl Willis utilizes ~5-6mCi of Am241, and in several later videos he has it up to 8mCi. You need at least 2000 n/sec to start seeing any kind of activation products. - As stated above, I think the nuclespot Polonium 210 source is about the most feasible way of doing this yourself with out having to risk contamination by dissembling those older pyrotronics branded smoke detectors.