Americum 241

[Bio-Hazard]

How does Am 241 effect the gold in smoke detectors?

 

also.. do some material goods still use radium?

[akcapr]

theres no gold in smoke detectors

 

correction: they do have gold in them (to case the Am)

[akcapr]

back to the question, the radiation from the Am would be too weak to do anything to the gold, i mean, its alpha radiation- so weak u can stop it with air

[Bio-Hazard]

I read somwhere that there was a good amount of gold in there that you could pawn off and get more money than you paid for the smoke detector..

 

but it's not possible because the gold would be radiated.

[H2SO4]

Akcapr, im sure there is alittle bit of bata radiation being emitted also. I think he is talking about the gold being "turned" into another element by the radiation, like how if you nail some bismuth with alpha particles you get astatine (i believe).

 

And bio-hazard, how would putting gold in an area of nuclear radiation affect its value (that is, unless it was turned into another element). ? Its not liek it will stay radioactive after exposure.

[H2SO4]

I dont think they use radium for anything anymore. Did you know salt substitue is radioactive! Its that one K isotope.

[swansont]

I read somwhere that there was a good amount of gold in there that you could pawn off and get more money than you paid for the smoke detector..

 

No....

 

Did the company lose money selling you the smoke detector, due to the cost of the gold?

[budullewraagh]

Am-241-->alpha

 

radium is no longer used in anything really, although it used to be in luminescent paints

[YT2095]

tbh, I`ve taken dozens of Am 241 slugs out of detectors, never Once encountered Gold in them there hills!

 

you`de do better melting down old Chips and computers for Gold content (they`ll actualy buy them off you in Russia).

 

if you want to make Money, get a magnet (seriously) and then go through all your Copper coins, ignore the ones that stick, and keep the ones that don`t, they`re Pure Copper and worth a fraction more as scrap than the coins face value

 

 

the YT has Spoken, now go forth and get Rich! (I want 20% of all takings)

[jdurg]

The Am-241 from a smoke detector does have gold mixed in there, but it's such a small amount and such a fine form of gold that it doesn't have the typical yellow color to it. Instead it's more of a dark brown/black/purple color. It's value is probably about 1 cent.

[H2SO4]

I wish one could get a nice, cheap, geiger counter. Ive always wanted oen. Do those pick up stray cosmic rays?

[akcapr]

as for yts copper coins, ive experienced that when meleting pennies for zinc. Ive noticed that the coins below like 1985 are all copper- they didnt melt and didnt give me any zinc. the relitavely new ones however do melt.

[swansont]

as for yts copper coins, ive experienced that when meleting pennies for zinc. Ive noticed that the coins below like 1985 are all copper- they didnt melt and didnt give me any zinc. the relitavely new ones however do melt.

 

For US pennies it was 1982 that they switched from 95% copper to copper clad with 97.5% zinc.

[akcapr]

i was close

[H2SO4]

i thought it was 1983. I used to get my zinc for casting out of pennies,but it is boring and imoure, so i bought a five pound zinc 99% boat anode of ebay for like 10 bucks. I had to melt it into little blob ingots so i can remelt them latter. It took like 20 minutes to melt the thing with a MAPP gas torch!

[swansont]

The source I checked says 1982, and that's what I remember, but now I see a few that say 1983.

 

So let's go to the source. Here's what the US mint says:

 

The alloy remained 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc until 1982, when the composition was changed to 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper (copper-plated zinc). Cents of both compositions appeared in that year.

 

So there's a grey area, and we're both right. Production of the zinc-clad started in 1982, but production of the 95% copper penny wasn't phased out until the 1983 series. So the year you quote depends on how you phrase the question.

[jdurg]

As a collector of coins myself, I can verify that the last year there were pure copper pennies was 1982. From 1983 onwards, you will never find a copper core penny. (In 1982 there were zinc core and pure coppy pennies produced in about equal quantities).

[olmpiad]

Back OT, I measured the radiation from a single Am pellet from a smoke detector with my GC. It's readings averaged out at around 4.5 mR/Hr (5400 CPM). My counter only measures Gamma and Beta however, so it could be higher. In comparison, a standard old Coleman Lantern Mantle will give readings averaging out at around 8.75 mR/Hr (10,500 CPM). Anybody got any Alpha readings?

[insane_alien]

I think I know how to make Americum out of household materials.

 

So you seen that bluepeter episode where they built a breeder reactor out of a yoghurt pot an some sticky back plastic as well then?

[RyanJ]

I think I know how to make Americum out of household materials. :wink:

 

 

 

1st post!

 

just to point out an error there you can't "make" it - you can extract and purify it maybe but not make it.

 

Good luck finding a great deal though - like most radioactive materials its strictly controled and quite hard to get your hands on unless your looking to be thrown in jail for terrorism charges.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[insane_alien]

just to point out an error there you can't "make" it - you can extract and purify it maybe but not make it.

 

Its an synthetic element not found naturally(well maybe a couple of atoms in supernovae but no more than that. the only way to get it in apreaciable quantities is to make it in nuclear reactors

[RyanJ]

Its an synthetic element not found naturally(well maybe a couple of atoms in supernovae but no more than that. the only way to get it in apreaciable quantities is to make it in nuclear reactors

 

 

Its still not made its just a product of the nuclear reactions.

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[insane_alien]

Its still not made its just a product of the nuclear reactions.

 

Cheers' date='

 

Ryan Jones[/quote']

 

Ok so they don't build reactors to specifically make americium, but they still make it in reactors. it may only be a byproduct but its still made.

[RyanJ]

Ok so they don't build reactors to specifically make americium, but they still make it in reactors. it may only be a byproduct but its still made.

 

Quite true bud did you read the quote I was responding too? I believe the person was saying you could make Americium from household materials - that you can't do and whats what I was saying

 

Cheers,

 

Ryan Jones

[The Thing]

Akcapr, im sure there is alittle bit of bata radiation being emitted also.

Americium 241 is also a gamma emitter, at I think 0.06MeV.