[NewCandle] further adventures of pixie 23

[Nick Reiter]

Hi Horace,

Thanks for the calculations!  I will share this with Sam at our next project call.  Much appreciated.

With my Geiger counter being pretty rudimentary, I don't have much of a method for screening radiation modes other than the mica window on the tube and test shielding I would put in place.  Beta decay coming off of species deposited or reacted with the outer foil roll turns could well account for the high reading.  Which would also say that the most interesting part of all of it was the initial leap up when the rolls were immersed in the solution, and the turns wetted.

I did some digging on average surface roughness of kitchen foil, to see just what the Casimir cavities would look like dimensionally, in a typical roll of that material.  The surface finish varies a bit, but it looks like there could be annular two dimensional cavities of anywhere between .1 micron and 2 microns.  All of which would be in the range where Casimir forces could at least be tangible.

nr


> Again, I would suggest neutron activation:
> 
>   27Al + n -> 28 Al -> (2.25m hl) 28Mg + beta +
> 4.624 MeV
> 
>   28Mg -> (21 h hl) 28Na + beta + 1.83 MeV
> 
>   28Na -> (30.5 ms) 28Ne + beta + 13.9 MeV
> 
> but also my CRC shows this branch:
> 
>   28Na -> (30.5 ms) 27Ne + beta + n + 2.389 MeV
> gamma + energy
> 
> which has an 11.9% probability, and which has the potential
> to increase the neutron flux. It also drags out the decay
> time, because 12 percent of the neutrons generate more
> neutrons about 21 hours later.   The gammas
> have the potential to generate more neutrons right off from
> spallation.
> 
> When you pull the foil out of the water the geiger counter
> can pick up the extra betas. That might be verified with
> different thickness screens, i.e. with different beta path
> lengths.
> 
> My guess is the Al still has some U in it or on it now.
> 
> Gee, I wonder if the initially high gamma flux caused
> splitting of the deuterons into P + n, or neutron spallation
> off the 28 Ne?  If you could build up enough 28 Mg, 28
> Na and 27 Ne it could sustain its own chain reaction? 
> From each initial neutron comes 4 high energy betas, plus at
> least one gamma plus 12% neutrons, plus Bremsstrahlung.
> 
> Probably not.
> 
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Horace Heffner
> http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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