Deuteroparaffin sample

Artifact Number:

2018-017

Description

A sample of unknown origin of deuteroparaffin (paraffin where the ordinary hydrogen is replaced by deuterium) held in a glass vail.  The vial is stored in a 24 cm long wooden block into which a hole was bored.  A cork closes the container.  The label on the outside of the wooden container appears to indicate that at 730 C the container contained 20 g of paraffin with a density of 0.99.  The glass vial inside the wooden container appears to indicate that the material was later repackaged and that only 10.5 g now exist in the vial.  The repackaging date was 16/7/1946.  The note on the vial also indicates that the deuterium source was Norsk Hydro. 

Details

Keywords:
deuterium; deuterium compounds; moderators
Materials:
wood, paraffin
Date:
~1945
Associated artifacts:
A similar metal container (17 cm in length) and claimed to hold heavy-water from Norsk Hydro is held at the Canadian Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa as artifact 1998.0202.001  The artifact description sheet claims a connection to Chalk River.
Notes:

Paraffin has been used as a neutron moderator in a number of sub-critical piles as well as in operating reactors.  Loading the paraffin with deuterium replacing the ordinary hydrogen would of course make it a much better moderator/reflector.  Whether this sample was used only for small scale experiments or was part of a larger assembly is unknown at this point.

SEARCH ARTIFACTS
Generic filters
Exact matches only
Search in title
Search in content
Search in excerpt
Click images to enlarge

More Artifacts