Mike McNally asks:
Timothy C. May writes:
When we needed sources of alpha particles, we cracked open smoke detectors and took out the Americium sources.
How much alpha do you really need (he asked, wondering when somebody will get irate and insist this thread be terminated)? I have some mineral specimens at home that are fairly hot (uraninite, cuprousklodowskite, and something else similar) with (this non-physicist thinks) mostly alpha emissions. Such things can be had at your next gem & mineral show, if you're lucky.
I don't "need" any these days. My reference to "when we needed" was to the 1977-1982 period, at Intel. And, yes, we had cut and polishes "hot rocks," including uraninite, thorianite, and various pure U-238 sheets. But the "Kong source" (10 mCi of Po-210) sprayed out vastly more alphas per square centimeter at the target than the "natural" sources here. We used sources at a wide range of activities to measure device sensitivitie3s to alpha particles. --Tim May -- .......................................................................... Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, tcmay@netcom.com | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero 408-688-5409 | knowledge, reputations, information markets, W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA | black markets, collapse of governments. Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available. "National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."