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Topic: what is it?  (Read 14733 times)

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jackstone5291

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what is it?
« on: February 22, 2006, 06:07:59 PM »
I just read the story about the radioactive boyscout and heard that he made a neutron gun. I was wondering what it was and how it work. Any information you could tell me is great. Thnaks for your time.

Jack Stone
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Offline Bakegaku

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #1 on: February 22, 2006, 11:43:40 PM »
A neutron gun is a device that creates a stream of neutrons that will be aimed at a target.  A radioactive substance inside it will give off alpha radiation, which will go through a layer of metal and cause it to give off neutrons.  

I might be able to give more information, but I won't tell you how to make one.  Not that I really know how to make a good one myself.  ::)
« Last Edit: March 04, 2006, 08:45:36 PM by bakegaku »
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Offline jdurg

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #2 on: March 03, 2006, 10:20:05 AM »
Be itself is not radioactive.  It only emits neutrons when exposed to alpha particles.  Polonium itself is radioactive, but it does not decay by neutron emission.
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Offline Bakegaku

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #3 on: March 04, 2006, 08:48:10 PM »
Quote from: jdurg on March 03, 2006, 10:20:05 AM
Be itself is not radioactive.  It only emits neutrons when exposed to alpha particles.  Polonium itself is radioactive, but it does not decay by neutron emission.

Yeah, Be is used to give off the neutrons (the "layer of metal" mentioned in my previous post).  I think the "radioactive boyscout" used Americium in his gun, though.  
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"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing"
-Socrates

"I see, I forget.  I hear, I remember.  I do, I understand"
-Confucius

"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
- Albert Einstein?

"American cartoons place characters in situations; anime
places situations around characters.  Anime characters
are not like fictional characters but more like fictional
people; their actions stem directly from their personalities,
and not just as a means to move the story's plot
forward.  We are made to sympathize with them, and
not simply be entertained by them."
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Offline lemonoman

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #4 on: March 06, 2006, 01:51:17 AM »
Quote from: bakegaku on March 04, 2006, 08:48:10 PM
Yeah, Be is used to give off the neutrons (the "layer of metal" mentioned in my previous post).  I think the "radioactive boyscout" used Americium in his gun, though.  

He must have opened up a LOT of smoke detectors....lol...
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Offline constant thinker

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #5 on: March 06, 2006, 06:37:09 PM »
I happen to remember a discussion on the amount of Am in a smoke detector. Didn't we decide you'd need a couple hundred smoke detectors to yield any decent amount of Am. Maybe it was more.
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Offline Bakegaku

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #6 on: March 06, 2006, 09:00:02 PM »
Quote from: constant thinker on March 06, 2006, 06:37:09 PM
I happen to remember a discussion on the amount of Am in a smoke detector. Didn't we decide you'd need a couple hundred smoke detectors to yield any decent amount of Am. Maybe it was more.

all-in-all, smoke detectors aren't too hard to come by.  I think he pretended he was working for a school and bought several hundred broken ones at a discount for "educational reasons."

Oh, and in my last post I didn't mean he used Americium to produce neutrons, he used it to produce the initial radiation that went through the beryllium and created neutrons.  That might have been unclear.
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"True knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing"
-Socrates

"I see, I forget.  I hear, I remember.  I do, I understand"
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"Nothing will benefit human health and increase chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet."
- Albert Einstein?

"American cartoons place characters in situations; anime
places situations around characters.  Anime characters
are not like fictional characters but more like fictional
people; their actions stem directly from their personalities,
and not just as a means to move the story's plot
forward.  We are made to sympathize with them, and
not simply be entertained by them."
~John Oppliger~

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Re:what is it?
« Reply #7 on: March 06, 2006, 09:39:26 PM »
Quote from: constant thinker on March 06, 2006, 06:37:09 PM
I happen to remember a discussion on the amount of Am in a smoke detector.

A smoke detector has around 1 microcurie of Am-241, which comes out to 0.27 micrograms.
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