Re: Depleted Uranium SG

["Tesla list" <tesla@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Original poster: David Speck <dave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

Mike,
Uranium metal is very flammable when finely divided.

I read a great chapter in one of the books on the making of the first 
atomic weapons.  They were having difficulty attaching some component 
to a piece of uranium because of the hard natural protective oxide 
coating it forms upon exposure to air.  One of the machinists had the 
bright idea of using a sand blaster to clean off the oxide.  The 
instant the blast hit the metallic uranium, a great shower of white 
hot sparks erupted.  Needless to say, that approach was abandoned.

I'm not even crazy about using thoriated tungsten rods in my RSGs 
because of the small amount of radioactive oxide dust that would be 
liberated, so I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to use uranium for the gaps.

Dave

Tesla list wrote:

> Original poster: "Mike" <mike.marcum@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
> This is probably the stupidest idea yet, but has anyone thought of 
> using depleted uranium for sparkgap electrodes? Figured if it was 
> one of the heaviest stable elements in the periodic table it won't 
> melt/corrode as easily as tungsten at high power. Does it have 
> crappy RF properties like steel? Probably a moot point in a few 
> years when DRSSTC's take over, but still kinda courious.
>
> Mike