[Rockhounds] DIY XRD?

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

The x-rays are produced in a fairly narrow beam because of the angle  
between the tape roll and the tape being pulled off it.




On Thursday, Oct 23, 2008, at 09:55 America/Detroit, Pmodreski at aol.com  
wrote:

> Ah, yes, now, let's not throw too much cold water on Kreigh's cool   
> idea.
> Who knows, "in theory" it might work, but in practice... yeah, the   
> amount of
> X-rays produced are probably very miniscule, and although in theory   
> one might
> filter out just one wavelength of X-rays, in practice what one is   
> starting
> with is probably too spread over a range of X-ray wavelengths, to be   
> useful.
> And the X-rays are probably emitted in all directions, not focused
> geometrically at all, so by the time one collimated just the ones  
> traveling in a
> particular direction toward the sample, one would again lose 99% of  
> the tiny  amount
> that had been produced...  There was also the caveat in the story,   
> that the
> X-rays were only detectable when the experiment was done in a vacuum   
> chamber.
>
> I wonder, if a miniscule amount of X-rays are produced in any  
> electrical
> discharge, where high-voltage electrons are hitting something; as in a  
> lightning
> bolt, or even, in a static electricity discharge when you shuffle  
> across the
> rug  and touch your finger to something metal?  Seems like that and  
> the Scotch
>  Tape, are just different versions of the same thing.  That would be  
> even
> the simpler way to generate the X-rays for Kreigh's homemade
> mini-diffractometer!
>
> Cheers, and keep at it, Kreigh,
> Pete
>
>
> In a message dated 10/22/2008 7:49:23 P.M. Mountain Daylight Time,
> Kreigh at tomaszewski.net writes:
>
> Bryan,
>
> The Bragg Equation requires the wavelength. Coherent  x-rays from an
> incoherent source are fairly easy to produce using a small  aperture
> monochromator. That problem was solved about a hundred years  ago.
>
> I agree that the real problem is the energy. There has to be  enough at
> some wavelength to produce a detectable beam out of the filtered
> source. I assume there is enough since they were able to x-ray a
> finger, but it might require a slower scan than a commercial unit; it
> is easy to make x-ray detection cumulative.
>
> How long will a roll of  tape last? How many times can it be reused? I
> would be really happy to be  able to get an analysis for the cost of a
> roll of  tape.
>
> Kreigh
>
>
>
>
> On Wednesday, Oct 22, 2008, at 20:58  America/Detroit, J Bryan Kramer
> wrote:
>
>> Doesn't x-ray  energy/wavelength make a difference for x-ray
>> diffraction? I
>>  read that scotch tape article and it didn't sound like you could
>>  control
>> much beyond being able to produce some sort of x-rays in  bursts.
>>
>> BK
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 20:44,  Kreigh Tomaszewski
>>  <Kreigh at tomaszewski.net>wrote:
>>
>>> I've often wished I  could move a lab into my basement and do x-ray
>>>  analysis
>>> of minerals, but cost makes it just a  dream.
>>>
>>> Now it has been discovered that unrolling  scotch take in a vacuum
>>> produces
>>>  x-rays.
>>>
>>>   
>>> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081022/ap_on_sc/>>> sci_scotch_tape_surprise
>>>
>>>  Using a roll of tape, a small motor to unwind it, and a vacuum pump,
>>> to
>>> produce a source of x-rays turns the dream into a  possible do it
>>> yourself
>>>  project.
>>>
>>> The database for comparison against known  minerals is available at
>>> places
>>> such as  http://rruff.geo.arizona.edu/AMS/amcsd.php. The rest of the
>>>  details are relatively trivial once you have a source of  x-rays.
>>>
>>>  http://productsearch.machinedesign.com/mdproducts/x_ray_diffraction
>>>
>>>  Anybody interested in a science project?
>>>
>>>  Kreigh
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>  --
>>
>>
>> "The thunderbolt falls on an inch of ground; but  the light of it  
>> fills
>> the
>> horizon."
>>
>>    Ralph Waldo Emerson
>>
>> J Bryan Krämer
>> North Florida,  USA
>> photos at:
>>  http://pbase.com/photoburner
>>
>>
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