[quote=“Dog’s_Breakfast”]Atomic batteries have been in use for quite a while. There are several different types:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery
RTGs have been frequently used to power satellites and space probes. More info on RTGs:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisoto … _generator
Unfortunately, you can’t buy them at 7-Eleven just yet.
Atomic batteries are mostly beta emitters. A gamma emitter would be more powerful but too dangerous, and would likely damage the electronics that are being powered.[/quote]
I don’t think you’ll ever be able to buy RTGs at the 7-Eleven because they use Plutonium or something.
Then again, Beta emitters (Tritium I think) were used in watch dials
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-powered_lighting
They are safe because the Beta particles are blocked by the glass of the watch (IIRC Beta particles are blocked by a sheet of paper too) . Mind you Beta emitters would be extremely dangerous if you ingested them, since Beta particles will do massive damage to DNA.
The idea with Nuclear Isomers is to use Induced Gamma Emission -
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_gamma_emission
[quote]* In theory, IGE materials based on nuclear isomers have a very high energy density compared to chemical sources. This makes them interesting as power sources if the cross section turns out to be useful in practice. For instance, a “nuclear battery” could be constructed by carefully adjusting the density of the IGE material to make it close to “critical”, in which case a small application of the right energy gammas could cause the slow but continual release of more gammas due to stimulated emission. Converted to electricity, the gammas represent a powerful source of energy. Once the nuclei have all returned to the ground state, the “battery” could be re-charged by pumping it again.
- In February 2003, the non-peer reviewed New Scientist wrote about the possibility of an IGE-powered airplane.[8] The idea was to utilize 178m2Hf (presumably due to its high energy to weight ratio) which would be triggered to release gamma rays that would heat air in a chamber for jet propulsion. This power source is apparently called a “quantum nucleonic reactor”, although it is not clear if this name exists only in reference to the New Scientist article.[/quote]
I’m not sure, but I think you could build some sort of solar cell that runs off gamma rays. Then again, gamma rays would be much harder to shield than Beta particles. But you can control the power output of an IGE device, which you can’t do with a Tritium Beta particle source. You could talk about a plane powered by an IGE device for example, I don’t think that would be possible with a Tritium Beta source because you wouldn’t be able to turn it off.
Nuclear Isomers can also be used for all sorts of lethal things too, like gamma ray lasers, pure fusion bombs or a gamma ray bomb, so there is lots of research money.