RE: tungsten anyone?

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: Mike <megavolts61@xxxxxxxxx>

Hi All,
   I doubt there's really enough Thorium oxide 
created to cause concern.  At 2%(by wt, I 
presume),  and the tiny amount of material 
oxidized - even over a year's time would not 
amount to much.  Welder's go through quite a few 
of those rods they use per year .  Thorium has a 
very long halflife, so the specific activity is 
pretty low.  Plutonium's 24000 yr halflife would 
present a much higher danger.  Polonium 210's 
half life is so short by comparison(138 days) 
that a gram of it encapsulated in a stainless 
steel capsule will raise it's own temperature to 
as much as 500º(I picked that because of that 
Russian spy who was killed with it).  Plutonium 
in metal form will actually feel warm, but 
nothing like Polonium.   Uranium and Thorium have 
half lives in the billions of years for the main 
naturally occuring isotopes (Th 232 and U 
238).  You could hold a ten lb hunk of either and not notice any temperature.
   They wouldn't use them in welding if they 
presented much of a hazard.  I'd avoiding 
breathing any dust or oxides, but you wouldn't 
want to breathe the tungsten oxide dust either.
Mike


Hi Anthony,

One has to wonder how much radiation is gased out on a rotary spark
gap...
We are running multiple rods not just one.

Jim Mora


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