Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: set fair on 13/05/2024 16:02:05
-
How much Silicon 32 would you need to power a home?
-
The decay of each nucleus delivers about 3 x 10-14 joules, or 10-23 MWh
The average consumption of a UK house is about 15 MWh per year so you need 15 x 1023 Si nuclei to decay per year.
Conveniently, Avogadro tells us that 32 g of Si contains around 6 x 1023 atoms so that 's 2.5 x 32 = 80 grams per year.
Given the halflife of about 150 years, around 12 kg will supply the energy you need for the probable 100 year life of a house, but, annoyingly, most of it will be delivered in the first year!
-
Another way to look at that is "enough for about a million* dirty bombs" which is why you will never get hold of it.
* The million is a baseless guess, but the point stands
15 x 10^23 Si nuclei to decay per year.
I may have lost track of the zeroes, but about 5X 10^ 16 Bq
About 2.5 million times more than this
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jan/31/what-is-the-radioactive-capsule-missing-in-wa-used-for-and-how-dangerous-is-it
About 1.3 MCi or about a million million smoke detectors' worth.
Nope.
-
What form does the 3x10exp-14J occur in? Is it in the β, the γ would be problematic. Why not go for plutonium(238?) with a similar half life and thermal output. And finally why does the latex work for Alan and not for me?
-
Latex? I think you are confusing this thread with the one about idiots and condoms. Seriously, though, I just use the "preview" command and "sup".
The principal decay of Si32 seems to be beta, most of which is going to be absorbed in the rest of the 12 kg lump, and the surface emission will be pretty much mopped up with an aluminum/lead/stainless steel shell. The resulting1.7 kW of heat can then be used directly in a water boiler. My 1.5 kW tea urn died yesterday at the start of a jazz concert! Can Amazon deliver 12 kg of Si32 for less than 50 pounds to repair it?
Problem is that we like to use electricity for other things than central heating and making tea, so you would probably need another 6 kg lump driving a Stirling engine or thermopile to run the telly and stuff.
-
Thank you, Alan, you hit the nail on the head, all this talk of condoms has seeped into my brain or what is left of it. Despite having worked in technology all my life I remain largely computer illiterate: for example I have never owned a smartphone and I don't use email(prefer female!). So what is "sup"?
-
Assuming you are using the standard Naked Scientists forum page, if you type a response into the "quick reply " box and press "preview" it takes you to a panel with a number of Word-like text options, some of which actually work, like B for bold, I for italic, Greek alphabet, and the vital sup(erscript) and sub(script) buttons.