Depleted Uranium Spark Gap Discussion
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 07:29:29 -0600 - Subject: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: "Mike"
This is probably the stupidest idea yet, but has anyone thought of using
depleted uranium for spark gap electrodes? Figured if it was one of the heaviest
stable elements in the periodic table it won't melt/corrode as easily as
tungsten at high power. Does it have crappy RF properties like steel? Probably a
moot point in a few years when DRSSTC's take over, but still kinda curious. -
Mike
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:02:45 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original
poster: HomerLea
It would ignite and burn with very toxic results.
J Heagy
See
bad link
.eh.doe.gov/techstds/standard/hdbk1081/hbk1081e.html
Uranium in finely divided form is readily ignitable, and uranium scrap from
machining operations is subject to spontaneous ignition. This reaction can
usually be avoided by storage under dry (without moisture) oil. Grinding dust
has been known to ignite even under water, and fires have occurred spontaneously
in drums of coarser scrap after prolonged exposure to moist air. Because of
uranium's thermal conductivity, larger pieces generally have to be heated
entirely to their ignition temperature before igniting. Moist dust, turnings,
and chips react slowly with water to form hydrogen. Uranium surfaces treated
with concentrated nitric acid are subject to
explosion or spontaneous ignition in air.
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:04:32 -0600 - Subject: RE: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: "Lau, Gary"
Heavy elements - lead comes to mind. Let's see, melting point? No good.
Hardness? No good. Safe? Nope. Low resistance? Don't matter if it's melted
into a puddle, but no good regardless. Aside from being far more dangerous, I
don't actually know how DU compares with lead on any of these parameters, but
clearly density alone is a good predictor for suitable electrode materials.
Regards, Gary Lau
MA, USA
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:05:24 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original
poster: Mddeming
Hi Mike,
In a message dated 10/1/05 9:43:56 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
This is probably the stupidest idea yet,
Close, but no trophy :-))))
but has anyone thought of using depleted uranium for spark gap electrodes?
Depleted uranium is still radioactive and oxides are not good to inhale.
Figured if it was one of the heaviest stable elements in the periodic table it
won't melt/corrode as easily as tungsten at high power.
High Weight<> high melting point. Lead and gold - very stable and very high M.Wt.
but low melting point.
Does it have crappy RF properties like steel?
Yes
Probably a moot point in a few years when
DRSSTC's take over,
Baseless assumption: It is like saying that some day all sculptors will want to
work only in plastics, or that no one will want to build a boat hull from
anything but fiberglass. Just as there are still artists who carve stone, or
prefer oils to CAD programs, and those who still build wooden boats in their
back yards, there will always
be a significant number of coilers for whom the anachronistic technology IS the
main draw. My two youngest grandkids have built small coils (2""x 10") where the
only parts that weren't home made were the storage batteries that powered them.
For them, "coolness" trumps efficiency. but still kinda curious.
Mike
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 13:47:08 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: davep
DU is still mildly, but above background, radioactive. My recollection is it is
a 'heavy metal toxin', so vaporizing it in a spark gap seems 'iffy'.
best, dwp
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:34:19 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: David Speck
Mike,
Uranium metal is very flammable when finely divided.
I read a great chapter in one of the books on the making of the first atomic
weapons. They were having difficulty attaching some component to a piece of
uranium because of the hard natural protective oxide
coating it forms upon exposure to air. One of the machinists had the bright
idea of using a sand blaster to clean off the oxide. The instant the blast hit
the metallic uranium, a great shower of white hot sparks erupted. Needless to
say, that approach was abandoned.
I'm not even crazy about using thoriated tungsten rods in my RSGs because of the
small amount of radioactive oxide dust that would be liberated, so I'm pretty
sure I wouldn't want to use uranium for the gaps.
Dave
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:35:24 -0600 - Subject: RE: Depleted Uranium SG
Original
poster: "John H Alderman III"
Depleted Uranium has the wrong valence arrangement . My son how ever throws
some far out fast balls with it over in a real hot sandy place. Tungsten
electrodes that are thoriated work well and have a stable arc (TIG) however
Thorium is a beta emitter. We used to train RADCON rumor has it with thoriated
welding electrodes near an octopus's garden...A touch of sharpening without HEPA
vacuum could shut down liberty for an entire
Submarine Tender. I introduced Chemsharp into SUBLANT and got free leave and
legendary status amongst bubbleheads. If you want to sharpen perfectly for arc
control get some of that stuff at a welding supply house. Just heat with a torch
to red hot then spin in the mix...Seems I remember the mix was actually made
from cattle hooves...
John
Id like to be, under the sea....
Original poster: davep
DU is still mildly, but above background, radioactive. My recollection is it is
a 'heavy metal toxin', so vaporizing it in a spark gap seems 'iffy'.
best, dwp
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:35:38 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original
poster: "Mike"
Didn't realize the stuff was reactive like pure
sodium/lithium/potassium/etc. Glad it was just thought
and I wasn't going actually get and machine the stuff.
Mike
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 15:36:43 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: Jim Lux
At 12:05 PM 10/1/2005, Tesla list wrote:
While it's technically radioactive, the halflife is so huge (4.5 billion years),
that not much of it decays in any given amount of time. In fact, since nothing
on earth "makes" U238, what you got today is whatever there was at the original
condensation, reduced by a factor of 4 or so..(depending on when you want to
start counting). There's actually quite a lot of U already around (it's
substantially more common than gold, for instance)
heavy metal toxicity would be the real problem.
>Figured if it was one
of the heaviest stable elements in the periodic
table it won't
>melt/corrode as easily as tungsten at high power.
density or atomic numbers don't necessarily correlate with stability. That's
more a function of which column they're in the periodic table, which in turn has
to do with how many electrons are in the outer shell. Elements that are missing
one electron (i.e. halogens) or have just one electron in the outer shell (e.g.
Hydrogen, etc.) tend to be the more reactive ones (they 'want to fill' or 'lose
just one')
>High Weight<> high melting point. Lead and gold -
very stable and very high M.Wt. but low melting point.
gold has a fairly high Melting point, as does U.
>Does it have crappy RF properties like steel?
>
>Yes
Date: Sat, 01 Oct 2005 22:28:40 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: Jim Lux
>Didn't realize the stuff was reactive like pure
sodium/lithium/potassium/etc.
It's not that reactive. It's not even as reactive as things like magnesium or
calcium, in the next column. Most metals will ignite spontaneously if finely
divided enough (look up pyrophoric iron). It is like Yttrium, Titanium,
Zirconium, etc.
>Glad it was just thought
and I wasn't going actually get and machine the
stuff.
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:08:09 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: robert
heidlebaugh
I've been there. DON'T TRY IT!!! Depleated uranium is very hard, but it is
flammable and will burn while drilling it without cooling. You could easily get
a lung of uranium oxide and " gulf war syndrome". NOT GOOD. - Robert H
Date: Sun, 09 Oct 2005 14:10:15 -0600 - Subject: Re: Depleted Uranium SG
Original poster: robert
heidlebaugh
Wrong, Magnesium is much less flammable than DU and no where as difficult to
machine. Uranium will flame every time. Not as bad as Potassium, but much worse
than magnesium. - Robert H
6-14-11