> Radium is the source of radon. So are some isotopes of thorium.
> The problem, other than the high radiation, with placing Ra in an > enclosed vessel is that it quickly reaches secular equilibrium with its > decay products down to Pb-210. Oh, there's another problem. Various phases of the decay chain release alpha particles, which are helium nuclei, and stable. For each radon atom created (which only last a few days), ultimately six helium atoms are also created. So you won't ever reach equilibrium, the helium will rapidly overtake the radon, and the pressure will (extremely) gradually rise as the helium accumulates. > To answer another question, the emission spectrum looks similar to > krypton so the glow discharge would probably be indistinguishable. Also true, but as I explained above, you'd be looking at a helium discharge anyway. > According to the Wiki article, in high enough concentrations, Radon is > also radioluminescent, either green or yellow, probably depending on the > concentration. Cool! - John -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send an email to neonixie-l@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/F38A6054-F676-47C6-8EEF-6B894F6A7194%40gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
