[time-nuts] Helium and MEMS oscillators don;t mix well

[Bob kb8tq]

Hi

A lot of Radon and *really* poor ventilation…. 

There are a lot of ways for He to show up. In normal use, issue is hanging on to it. 
It tends to run away from its source very quickly. Maintaining a measurable concentration 
in something like a normal room …. not very easy at all. 

Bob

> On Nov 1, 2018, at 3:04 AM, Poul-Henning Kamp <phk at phk.freebsd.dk> wrote:
> 
> --------
> In message <b584a9e5-c2ac-7951-f499-3601c2e25408 at karlquist.com>, "Richard (Rick
> ) Karlquist" writes:
> 
>> According to Jack, radon emits alpha particles, AKA helium nuclei.
>> These capture stray electrons and become helium atoms.  So the
>> presence of helium is a marker for radon.  The fact that the half
>> life is a few days supports this hypothesis.   At least that is what
>> Jack told me.
> 
> Right, but you need a LOT of Radon before the Helium concentration
> becomes a problem, and the alphas would literally make things
> glow in the dark.
> 
> -- 
> Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
> phk at FreeBSD.ORG         | TCP/IP since RFC 956
> FreeBSD committer       | BSD since 4.3-tahoe    
> Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.
> 
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