
Experiments with a Hydrogen Thyratron - mmastrac
http://www.kerrywong.com/2019/03/03/experiments-with-a-hydrogen-thyratron/
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jacobush
My first thought was - won't the hydrogen escape?! Hydrogen molecules are tiny
and will leak out from just about anything. Then I read that there is a
reservoir where the hydrogen is stored, chemically I think. But still, as the
tube is operated, won't it be slowly depleted of hydrogen?! Very interesting.

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crazydoggers
“Hydrogen thyratron typically utilizes titanium hydride in it’s reservoir and
the hydrogen gas is released when the reservoir is heated and recombined into
titanium hydride when the temperature cools down.”

I’m guessing there’s an excess of H in the titanium hydride, so even if some
of it leaks out, it’ll be able to maintain operating pressure.

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rwmj
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyratron](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thyratron)
in case anyone was wondering.

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trav4225
Hmm, any risk of excessive x-ray production?

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CamperBob2
Not at the voltages he's running at. Any X-rays generated at voltages below
about 20 kV will have a difficult time escaping from the tube's own envelope.
3.5 kV is right out.

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trav4225
Ah, okay. I thought the danger zone was slightly lower. Thanks!

