--- On Sat, 1/29/11, Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Jed Rothwell <jedrothw...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Vo]:The Big Picture To: vortex-l@eskimo.com Date: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 4:57 PM
> This is an unknown nuclear reaction for crying out loud! A NUCLEAR > REACTION. It is not a Gumby toy or potato battery. I have seen many cold > > fusion labs, and I have often noted a cavalier attitude toward nuclear > safety, industrial standards and common sense. It bothers me a great > deal. A serious accident would not only hurt innocent people, it might > set back the development of cold fusion for years. It might even end the > > development of cold fusion, given the irrational fear that people have > of novelty and the unknown. Jed, Ionizing radiation is a hazard for sure, in many fields of experimental research. Producing even X-rays is ridiculously easy for the home experimenter. All you need is a source of HV DC, say 30kV+, and a vacuum tube with a cold cathode. In other words, a 'sign' type incandescent bulb available from Home Depot hardware. Cathode is the filament (tie it to HV-), put a piece of foil over the end of the bulb, and tie it to HV+. You now have a cold cathode X-ray tube. Put a current through the filament to get thermionic emission, and things get worse from there. I have had a Geiger counter screaming from a setup like this. I have found a decent shield for this, while still allowing me to observe visually what is going on, is the faceplate from a TV picture tube. Neutrons are worse, but they can be dealt with, just like the X-rays. Yes, everyone is scared of radiation, and I suppose it is for a good reason. It is dangerous. But driving a car is just as dangerous. Perhaps moreso. The problem as I see it is, people have been fed things like "The China Syndrome" for years, and they're terrified of "radiation." Compounded by the fact that there is a sad lack of scientific knowledge among the lay-people in this nation, at least, the situation gets worse. People need to understand that radiation is just like fire; used improperly (stick your hand where it don't belong) and it will hurt you very badly. Use it properly, and it is your friend. What people ought to understand, if (a BIG if) Rossi's machine really does work, is that the radiation emission from it (whatever it is), is probably going to be far less dangerous than the radionucleides emitted from burning coal. A 500 REM flux from a reactor can be avoided by walking a distance away from it. Thanks be to the inverse square law. Long lived radionucleides (relatively, at least), are going to pose a greater threat. They don't give a damn about distance. The neutron emission from a fusion cell is much more intense, but the emission of radionucleides from fossil fuel burning will ignore distance, and follow you home. I guess all I have to say is, all the problems of worrying about convincing the public that the thing (whatever it is) is safe, lie ultimately in educating them in science. I've rambled enough I guess. Apologies for the wasted bandwidth. --Kyle
