Re: general question X

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Terry Fritz" <twftesla-at-qwest-dot-net>

Hi Ralph,

The radioactive rods glow in the dark for welding at night... :-))))  Aw
ok, just joking! :o))

We are talking of the standard 1/8th inch diameter 7 inch long TIG welding
electrodes.  Thorium makes the rods radioactive (a little bit).  I think it
is a fairly benign alpha emitter.  The alpha particles help to strike an
arc or make the welding arc more stable.  I think this comes from a time
long past before radiation hazards were well understood.  They still sell
it today and it is still popular, but now you can get the non-radioactive
pure rods too.  Cerium is also anther option.  Welding equipment and the
rods carry warnings now but apparently welders are not dying like flies
from using them.  It appears to pose a only a mild risk.  Of course,
radioactive things have all kinds of opinions...  There are many things in
welding fumes that will kill you before the thorium does if you inhale the
fumes too much.  Welders or others more expert than I will now more.  Some
have claimed that thoriated rods do better in spark gaps but who knows...

The rod is 2% thorium and 98% tungsten but different alloys are available.

http://www.pro-fusiononline-dot-com/tungsten/radioactivity.htm

Cheers,

	Terry


At 09:57 PM 6/18/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>In a message dated 6/18/01 8:46:51 PM Central Daylight Time, tesla-at-pupman-dot-com 
>writes:
>
><< The pure kind is
> common now so best to avoid the thorium kind IMHO. >>
>
>Terry,
>Why are the tungsten welding rods thoriated? Is it in there as an alloy? A 
>coating?
>Another entry in the stupid question contest.
>Glad the list is back up.
>
>Cheers,
>Ralph Zekelman
>