How possible is H1+C12 reaction? carbon have perfect physical propereties, so I would like to try just smash protons(or maybe something other easily obtainable) into carbon plate.
I do not expect to power a town with this reaction, but it would be interesting to do some easy nuclear reactions at home with safe materials.
Proton-Carbon fusion.
-
Carl Willis
- Posts: 2841
- Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2001 7:33 pm
- Real name: Carl Willis
- Location: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
- Contact:
Re: Proton-Carbon fusion.
Cross-sections for the 12C(p,g)13N reaction are abysmal at any reasonable "amateur" proton energy. At 150 keV, you're barely over a nanobarn. Contrast this with the DD cross-section, which at this energy rises to about 15 millibarn. The only externally-detectable products of the 12C(p,g) reaction are some relatively low-energy prompt and delayed gamma rays, compounding the difficulty of detecting it.
There are plenty of reactions that can, at least in theory, be done at detectable levels with "amateur" particle energies in the 100 keV range. Consider 19F(p,a) maybe, if you have a source of protons. The 6 MeV gamma product should easily rise out of the background in an NaI or BGO detector of suitable size. Various (a,n) reactions, such as on 10-11B, 19F, and of course 9Be, can be detected at home with suitably strong alpha sources and sensitive neutron detector at one's disposal.
-Carl
There are plenty of reactions that can, at least in theory, be done at detectable levels with "amateur" particle energies in the 100 keV range. Consider 19F(p,a) maybe, if you have a source of protons. The 6 MeV gamma product should easily rise out of the background in an NaI or BGO detector of suitable size. Various (a,n) reactions, such as on 10-11B, 19F, and of course 9Be, can be detected at home with suitably strong alpha sources and sensitive neutron detector at one's disposal.
-Carl
-
Richard Hull
- Moderator
- Posts: 15023
- Joined: Fri Jun 15, 2001 9:44 am
- Real name: Richard Hull
Re: Proton-Carbon fusion.
Carl's advise is sage.
The easiest reaction and one that requires little effort and expense, provided you are a great scrounger, would be the Alpha-Be reaction to obtain neutrons. You would need some sort of neutron detector, the sensitivity of which, and thus the cost, would be proportional to the strength of your alpha source.
As a coarse rule of thumb you might expect only 1 to 3 neutrons per second per microcurie of your alpha emitter. (this assumes zero distance or intimate contact between the Be target and the source.)
Otherwise, the remaining 'easy reactions' Carl mentioned would demand some vacuum and high voltage gear.
Busting up or fusing atoms always demands high energy particles that are tough for the amateur with a thin wallet to lay hands on.
Richard Hull
The easiest reaction and one that requires little effort and expense, provided you are a great scrounger, would be the Alpha-Be reaction to obtain neutrons. You would need some sort of neutron detector, the sensitivity of which, and thus the cost, would be proportional to the strength of your alpha source.
As a coarse rule of thumb you might expect only 1 to 3 neutrons per second per microcurie of your alpha emitter. (this assumes zero distance or intimate contact between the Be target and the source.)
Otherwise, the remaining 'easy reactions' Carl mentioned would demand some vacuum and high voltage gear.
Busting up or fusing atoms always demands high energy particles that are tough for the amateur with a thin wallet to lay hands on.
Richard Hull
Progress may have been a good thing once, but it just went on too long. - Yogi Berra
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
Fusion is the energy of the future....and it always will be
The more complex the idea put forward by the poor amateur, the more likely it will never see embodiment
-
John Futter
- Posts: 1850
- Joined: Wed Apr 21, 2004 10:29 pm
- Real name: John Futter
- Contact:
Re: Proton-Carbon fusion.
Even the D-12C reaction requires 1.75MeV to get the carbon crossection to a reasonable 15-17 millibarns. At 1Mev the crossection is only 2-4 millibarns and dropping rapidly with reduced energy making detection of neutrons difficult.
We use glassy carbon sample stages for NRA as the carbon has few products to cloud the results
We use glassy carbon sample stages for NRA as the carbon has few products to cloud the results