On 14/01/11 00:18, Rick Karlquist wrote:
J. Forster wrote:
I'd imagine building a Cs unit might be a bit easier than an H MASER, but
not by much. Certainly a Rb is easier.
-John
Other than the "glassware", building an Rb is entirely possible
in your garage, at least if you are a certifiable time nut.
This is based on the HP 10816 mini-Rb I worked on circa 1980.
It would be even easier now.
The glassware is tricky only because you have to work with
stuff that is more like fused quartz than glass. This is because
regular glass can't deal with Rb very well.
The other problem for the garage builder is that one of the Rb
isotopes is slightly radioactive. Probably not OK to have
in your garage.
To start with, Rb-87 has a half-life of 4,88E+10 years with negative
beta-decay, i.e. an electron.
It has been judged very hard to accumulate any large amounts of it in
the body to build up to a unsafe dosage... you would pee it out before
it got there...
Also, I already have it in the garage and does not feel overly scared by
it. I also have some Americum in a smoke-detector. There is also uranium
in the ground, causing background radiation.
Cheers,
Magnus
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