I have an old gas lamp mantle. Very active, but apparently not alpha - interposing a piece of paper (as has been suggested) has no effect at all.
> On Dec 2, 2020, at 11:11 AM, alb.001 alb.001 <alb....@sympatico.ca> wrote: > > > I have a few as well in the original packaging. I find them at flea markets > and antique shows. All of the sellers are unaware of their radioactivity. I > paid $2 for each. I have also found some old pharmaceutical products such as > corrosive sublimate pills ( contain mercuric salts ) which were used to make > disinfectant solutions. Also dangerous and never packaged in anything > resembling child-resistant and very poisonous. I buy them to protect the > public who might buy them as a curiosity and not be aware of the danger they > pose. > > Pharma Phil > >> ---------- Original Message ---------- >> From: GastonP <ghpic...@gmail.com> >> Date: December 1, 2020 at 10:00 PM >> >> An old gas lamp mantle is good enough for the purpose, as its main emission >> is alpha particles. It must be an old one because those ones use thorium >> oxide to get its distinctive bright, while new ones don't use thorium. I >> keep 3 of them, which I got from a local auction site, in a small ziploc bag >> that saves me from touching the mantles themselves. >> >> >> On Friday, November 27, 2020 at 8:10:19 AM UTC-3 Sgitheach wrote: >> Would just a chunk of granite (or a granite kitchen worktop if you have one) >> be good as a cheap starting point? >> >>> On 27/11/2020 10:56, SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F. wrote: >>> I advise against using smoke detectors. To detect heir alpha radiation, you >>> would have to disassemble the source until you get to the radioactive >>> isotope plated strip - or button - element. This is sort of not allowed, >>> and also can be very dangerous if you scratch off radioactive material. >>> From outside the detector you can only detect the Gammas from the Am-241 >>> Also Quantities are sort of really high in these devices, depending on make >>> and model (1-100 uCi Am-241). If you really want to have alpha radiation, i >>> would purchase a Po-210 source from here: >>> https://www.spectrumtechniques.com/products/sources/disk-sources-and-source-sets/ >>> >>> >>> They are like 60$, safe and legal to handle. Only disadvantage is short >>> half life of 138 days. >>> You also can find high power Po-210 sources here: >>> https://www.imagesco.com/geiger/radioactive-sources.html >>> >>> Paul Andrews schrieb am Donnerstag, 26. November 2020 um 17:00:06 UTC+1: >>> And by 'alpha', I meant 'beta'. I actually did mean alpha, but I was wrong. >>> Still my old Geiger/Muller tube couldn't detect anything from these nixies, >>> so at least I can now detect beta particles. Now I need to find an alpha >>> source! Smoke detectors apparently. >>> >>> On Thursday, November 26, 2020 at 10:27:17 AM UTC-5 Pramanicin wrote: >>> Still a bit of juice left! >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>>> On Nov 26, 2020, at 07:25, Paul Andrews < pa...@nixies.us> wrote: >>>> >>>> Finally got an alpha detector for my GK-Mini geiger counter. First >>>> picture is a regular nixie tube. Second is one doped with Kr85 >>>> <IMG_5681.JPG> >>> >>>> >>>> <IMG_5683.JPG> >>>> >>>> >>>> On Friday, November 6, 2020 at 9:20:54 AM UTC-5 SWISSNIXIE - Jonathan F. >>>> wrote: >>>> Could also be Ra-226 on the 6140 >>>> >>>> gregebert schrieb am Mittwoch, 4. November 2020 um 16:32:02 UTC+1: >>>> Maybe it's Thorium, used in the filaments. >>>> >>>> On Wednesday, November 4, 2020 at 4:13:16 AM UTC-8 Paolo Cravero wrote: >>>> Hi. >>>> Let me add two pictures and a story. >>>> >>>> Lately I picked up locally a bunch of small CRTs (2BP1, that also fit in >>>> the vintage tuner currently on eBay, plus a Marantz) and the guy had a few >>>> NIB tubes too. I was looking for gas-filled ones and that resulted in a >>>> W.E. 6167 dekatron, some 0B2WA and some W.E. 6140/423A. Of particular >>>> interest was the 6140 shown in the picture whose box mentions Kr85, but no >>>> symbol on the glass. >>>> When I came home I checked with a Geiger counter and SBM-20 probe (hard >>>> beta and gamma particles) these tubes and the 6140 from 11/61 shows no >>>> action. Same goes for other 6140 except for one, much older from 12/52 >>>> marked 423A. Neither the box nor the glass carry any warning sign, but >>>> this tube hits >600 CPM vs 40 CPM background when put close to the SBM-20 >>>> probe (it's not the right way to measure radiation, but it's cool :) ). >>>> There is definitely something else than Kr-85 in there! I have blurred >>>> pics of it and it has been stored away from home. >>>> >>>> As already mentioned, Nixies did contain Kr-85 and I knew I had one >>>> clearly marked. It's a Burroughs Self-Scan display that probably needed >>>> some "doping" to handle the almost 1 MHz scan rate. BTW, it contains gas >>>> and I might never use it, so if someone wants to experiment with self-scan >>>> contact me off the list. >>>> >>>> One question for the knowledgeable people in here. I have some Mullard >>>> Nixies marked "Kr-0A": has it got something to do with Kr-85? I can't >>>> check with the Geiger since my probe does not detect Kr-85 leftovers. >>>> >>>> So, if you are on the hunt for active tubes, better look for unmarked >>>> pre-1960 editions and carry a Geiger counter with you ;) >>>> >>>> Paolo >>> >>>> -- >>> >>>> 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+...@googlegroups.com. >>> >>>> To view this discussion on the web, visit >>>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/3f26a1e5-5836-4ff5-b1ea-f95fab53151cn%40googlegroups.com. >>>> >>>> <IMG_5683.JPG> >>>> <IMG_5681.JPG> >>> -- >>> 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+...@googlegroups.com. >> >>> To view this discussion on the web, visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/d65b18e5-dbaf-4d6c-8d86-fc88fbf2f7bdn%40googlegroups.com. >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> 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 view this discussion on the web, visit >> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/6945048a-53f8-4b96-9006-7d712986adc7n%40googlegroups.com. >> > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google > Groups "neonixie-l" group. > To unsubscribe from this topic, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/topic/neonixie-l/BL83MEnFSbA/unsubscribe. > To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to > neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web, visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/377314040.1518586.1606925507144.JavaMail.open-xchange%40mtlgui07. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. 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