Radioactive Vacuum Tubes

Gas-discharge electron tubes work on the principle of electric discharge in gas, which essentially is when a current flows through gas, when a voltage is high enough. But in order for a gas-discharge electron tube to function, the gas needs to be ionized initially, to initiate a discharge. A very reliable way to accomplish this initial ionization, is with a small amount of radioactive material that emits ionizing radiation inside the tube. There are also a few other reasons why an electron tube might be radioactive. Here I show some examples of radioactive electron tubes.
Sources of information:
- Book: "Living with Radiation: The First Hundred Years", by Paul Frame and William Kolb.
- Oak Ridge: www.orau.org/h...
- Physics Open Lab: physicsopenlab...
- Carl Willis: carlwillis.wor..., carlwillis.wor..., carlwillis.wor..., www.angelfire....
- Taylor Wilson: www.sciradioact..., sites.google.c...
- Pocketmagic: www.pocketmagi...
- Russian Ni-63 tube (use Google Translate): www.155la3.ru/t...
- Radioactive tube spreadsheet (I am not sure how trustworthy it is): im13.rhbz.org/a...
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