At 02:40 PM 12/8/2009, you wrote:
Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
It would seem that Horace is thinking of a large amount of tritium.
Sure. For that, absolutely not amateur, and the cost would be very
high and the regulation strict, anyway. Tritium is *really* not
cheap, I'm sure.
I expect the best source of tritium for an amateur experiment would
be a tritium exit sign. Look up "tritium exit sign" on Google and
you will see. They cost about $140. There are 2 million in use in the U.S. See:
<http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/fs-tritium.html>http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/fs-tritium.html
My guess is that there are cheaper sources that might have large
enough amounts. Tritium is used in a number of lighting applications, I think.
Naturally, there is only a small amount of tritium in them, but as
Abd noted, a small amount is what you want.
It is probably against the law to break them apart to get at the
tritium. Unfortunately, it does not take much to stop the particles
from it, as everyone here knows.
Tritium wrist watches are also available.
Yeah, that's what I had in mind. I don't think it is illegal to break
them apart, though I'm not sure. It's not illegal to take an Am-141
source out of a smoke detector, and you can also mail or toss the
detectors in a land fill legally.
It might also be possible to buy the tritium component.
I did read the regulations on Am-241, and very small quantities are
exempt. Now, if you did certain things to the Am-241 that could make
it dangerous (such as dissolve it so that it could get into food or
water supply, you might be violating general laws about creating
public hazard or nuisance, but I don't think there is something
specific. Amalgamate a lot of Am-241 into one lot, though, you'd
enter the regulated territory.
My guess is that tritium is similar.
