[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

RE: tungsten anyone?



Original poster: Mike <megavolts61@xxxxxxxxx>

Hi All,
I doubt there's really enough Thorium oxide created to cause concern. At 2%(by wt, I presume), and the tiny amount of material oxidized - even over a year's time would not amount to much. Welder's go through quite a few of those rods they use per year . Thorium has a very long halflife, so the specific activity is pretty low. Plutonium's 24000 yr halflife would present a much higher danger. Polonium 210's half life is so short by comparison(138 days) that a gram of it encapsulated in a stainless steel capsule will raise it's own temperature to as much as 500º(I picked that because of that Russian spy who was killed with it). Plutonium in metal form will actually feel warm, but nothing like Polonium. Uranium and Thorium have half lives in the billions of years for the main naturally occuring isotopes (Th 232 and U 238). You could hold a ten lb hunk of either and not notice any temperature. They wouldn't use them in welding if they presented much of a hazard. I'd avoiding breathing any dust or oxides, but you wouldn't want to breathe the tungsten oxide dust either.
Mike


Hi Anthony,

One has to wonder how much radiation is gased out on a rotary spark
gap...
We are running multiple rods not just one.

Jim Mora


Everyone is raving about <http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=45083/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/mailbeta>the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta.