Horray! I finally got some beryllium and borated paraffinn wax, courtesy of United Nuclear. I have pictures of them, my trusty Gieger counter and me (heavily censored for legal reasons) I hope to be doing an experiment soon, so expect frequent updates.

And me.

As some of you might know, when Beryllium is exposed to alpha particles, it emits neutrons. These need a moderator to slow them down so they can be captured by other elements. Paraffin will be my moderator. Americium-241 will be my alpha source (try and guess where i'd get that from). I drew something on paint to illustrate my experiment:

What are neutrons good for anyway? I mean, I know they're important for nuclear weapons, but what about everyday fun? Like making electricity?

What are neutrons good for anyway? I mean, I know they're important for nuclear weapons, but what about everyday fun? Like making electricity?

Neutrons are usually released when a nucleus undergoes fission. The nucleus breaks apart and in addition to the fragments some neutrons are released. These neutrons cause the chain reaction in a nuclear reactor or weapon. Without them the whole concept would not work.
What Mr. Pink is trying to do is called neutron activation. You can induce radioactivity by bombarding a stable element with neutrons. The neutrons are captured by the stable nucleus and the element can become radioactive. You can then detect the radioactivity, usually by monitoring the gamma radiation emitted. This is a very sensitive and commonly used analytical technique.

It sould be safe, I'll pour a lead-lined concrete vault. Oh, and I did do the calculations; it would take approx. 1351.351351 Sd (smoke detectors, aka Microcuries) to get 1000 neutrons a second. And why are my materials not the best choices for this setup?

Well, a couple reasons:

1) ²⁴¹Am also has a nice gamma line, so a better choice would have been plutonium.  Your borated paraffin will not do anything against the gammas, a lead casket will do a little better.  

2) Each smoke detector contains ~35 kBq of americium (according to Google), so you have approximately 4.7 E7 Bq, or a couple milliCi if you have 1350 smoke detectors (and if I can count).  I do not know where you plan to play with it, but that's not stuff that you want to just handle on the kitchen table or a bench in your garage.

3) Beryllium?  The element is incredibly toxic.

4) There are better choices for neutron moderators than borated paraffin.

5) A lead lined concrete vault is ok when the set-up is encased in it.  But judging by the set-up that you have, it will not be safe outside of the vault.


I am sure that someone else can think of some more reasons, or correct any mistakes that I have made. Why are you going through all this trouble just to activate some silver? Sure, it is a cool experiment, but what will you do with everything when it is all over?
 

Hey about the amount of Am find an older smoke detector they have like 200 times as much Am as these darn new ones. The one on my ship has a radioactive warning sign on it it has so much but you might wanna use your neutrons on something other than tinfoil. Not only that i do believe the paraffin will slow the neutrons down just not enough. Maybe some heavy water would work but the Russians store there heavy water on the bottom of the ocean. I don't know you but i don't see you breaking into a military guarded nuclear waste silo for some to make this experiment work. Good luck with your experiment and please update us on your progress

Just swing by CANDU in Canada.  Ask politely.