Gamma radiation?

It may be difficult to separate "theory" from "application," but let''s see if this helps facilitate the discussion.
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Tom McCarthy
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Gamma radiation?

Post by Tom McCarthy »

I haven't seen any mention of gamma radiation being produced by D-D fusion or otherwise by the Fusor, but for some reason there's a little voice in the back of my head saying "It does! It does put out gamma rays!" But I'm pretty sure it doesn't, could somebody just settle the debate in my mind and answer whether the Fusor produces gamma rays or not?

Thanks!
Tom
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Richard Hull
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Re: Gamma radiation?

Post by Richard Hull »

No effective Gamma at all.

One of the rarest reactions D+D=4He + gamma is possible in about 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 100,000 D-D fusions. The gamma is extremely hot and potent but so rare, it is a non-issue.

At 1 million fusions per second, in a really good fusor, you might have one of these unstoppable gamma rays zip through your body about every second or two. Of greater concern are the 500,000 2.45 mev neutrons blasting out of the device every second or the hundred million or so x-ray photos at 40+kev shining through the shell each second.

Gamma rays?!!! Not to worry.

This is a fusion radiation question and might have been better placed in the radiation forum.

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
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Chris Bradley
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Re: Gamma radiation?

Post by Chris Bradley »

Richard Hull wrote:No effective Gamma at all.
It's possible - not sure how possible - that if one were to go hunting for a ~5.4 MeV gamma out of a fusor that these might actually be more common than the 23 MeV DD gammas (which may well still be very uncommon).

The 5.4 MeV gamma would come from D+p reactions. There'll always be a bit of water knocking around inside an average fusor as a source of hydrogen/protons, and maybe, even, a few of the fast protons from the DD reactions might make some of these gammas too.

The D+p reaction has a lower cross-section than the DD reactions, in the 'low'[er] collision energy ranges, so it is not an unfavourable reaction, given the likely atoms you might find in a fusor.
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