第一次修订，1998年2月9日 - 第二次修订，1999年3月31日
Of all the radiation-chemical reactions that have been studied in aqueous solution, the most important is the decomposition of pure water itself. It has been shown by Pierre Curie and Debierne that a vacuum can not be maintained with a solution of radium salts, that from the solution a continuous evolution of hydrogen and oxygen takes place.
It must be mentioned that the decomposition of water in any form by alpha particles renders the practice of sealing radioactive salts in small tubes for long periods of time a dangerous one unless certain precautions are observed. Accidents involving serious loss of radium have occurred through the explosion of tubes by accumulated pressure of hydrogen and oxygen. It appears to be dangerous to heat an old tube or to exert any mechanical stress upon it. It is possible that weakening of the glass container by the continued radiant bombardment enhances the danger through devitrification of the glass. A far reaching disintegration of quartz containers by radium rays has been reported.
各种各样的化学行为带来, particularly by alpha particles, is surprising, and one must be struck by the universality of the phenomenon of chemical change by radiation. We find that alpha and beta particles, in their passage through molecules, are almost universally capable of changing them chemically; their action does not depend upon any wave-length relation with the atom or molecule affected. This is in marked contrast with photo chemical action, where the specific nature of the reaction and of the system being acted on depends entirely upon the wave-length of the light, and the capability of being absorbed by a given element or molecule. Owning to the tremendous kinetic energy of alpha particles they always ionize and frequently produce chemical changes in substances through which they pass.
当暴露于辐射经历breakd水own sequence into hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen radicals and assorted oxygen compounds such as ozone which when converted back into oxygen releases great amounts of energy. Some of these are explosive. This decomposition is produced mainly by the alpha particles, that can be entirely absorbed by very thin layers of water. This fact was not recognized by early experiments.
It has been observed by Runge, Bodländer, Ramsay, Kernbaum, Duane, and Scheuer that a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen obtained by the decomposition of water by radium radiation contains an excess of hydrogen. The excess is greater in the early stages of the reaction and has been found to amount to an excess of 36% in one case. Kernbaum showed that hydrogen peroxide is formed in water in an amount equivalent to the deficiency of oxygen in the gaseous mixture. As the quantity of hydrogen peroxide accumulates in the solution a point is reached where its rate of decomposition just balances the new formation, under which condition of dynamic equilibrium the gases evolved would have normal composition. This explains the gradual diminution in the observed excess of hydrogen.
来自镭或钍的辐射能量占据了获得无尽电力供应的关键。将这种魔法粉尘的几个洒在氢氧化钠溶液溶液中可以为燃料电池提供氢和氧气。没有什么可以磨损的。无休止，白天或夜间的镭或钍，产生氢气和氧气以提供我们的燃料。唯一需要的是绘制电流，这是为了使气体不会积聚。通过拉开电能，氢气和氧气重新结合并恢复回水。然后循环再次开始，没有什么可以补充。
In 1907 Bragg calculated that the number of molecules decomposed by alpha particles was almost exactly equal to the number of ions that would have been produced in air. Madam Curie stated in 1910 with respect to the decomposition of water by alpha particles that, “the production of electrolytic gas by radium in solution is of the same order of magnitude as that which one would obtain if the number of molecules of water decomposed by the alpha rays emitted, were equal to the number of ions which these same rays would produce in air.” This electrolysis without electrodes is the key to generating almost limitless electrical power.
通过α射线轰击的空气电离和水分子的解离之间存在一个主要差异。在空气之后几乎立即发生电离重组，能量以热量的形式释放。当水分子被解离很少的重组时，少于5％。这意味着α衰减导致的水的分子解离超过95％效率。
Today we have fuel cells that are 50 – 65% efficient in converting hydrogen and oxygen into useful electrical current. Do the math, if the conversion of alpha decay to hydrogen and oxygen gases is over 95% efficient, less than 5% inefficient, this means that we can achieve about 45% to 60% conversion efficiency with our radiant energy fuel cell, and it will go on generating electricity for the lifetime of the fuel cell. All we need to do now is to find out what a gram of radium or thorium is in relationship to a watt of electricity. We now take this figure and divide it by 2. This will give us a pretty fair estimate of how much radium that we will require for x amount of electricity.
