Detection of helium

Mass Spectrometer. The mass spectrometer is the principal analytical tool of direct process control for the estimation of tritium. Gas samples are taken from several process points and analy2ed rapidly and continually to ensure proper operation of the system. Mass spectrometry is particularly useful in the detection of diatomic hydrogen species such as HD, HT, and DT. Mass spectrometric detection of helium-3 formed by radioactive decay of tritium is still another way to detect low levels of tritium (65). Accelerator mass spectroscopy (ams) has also been used for the detection of tritium and carbon-14 at extremely low levels. The principal appHcation of ams as of this writing has been in archeology and the geosciences, but this technique is expected to faciUtate the use of tritium in biomedical research, various clinical appHcations, and in environmental investigations (66). 

The detection of a test gas using mass spectrometers is far and away the most sensitive leak detection method and the one most widely used in industry. The MS leak detectors developed for this purpose make possible quantitative measurement of leak rates in a range extending aaoss many powers of ten (see Section 5.2) whereby the lower limit = 10 mbar l/s, thus making it possible to demonstrate the inherent gas permeability of solids where helium is used as the test gas. It is actually possible in principle to detect all gases using mass spectrometry. Of all the available options, the use of helium as a tracer gas has proved to be especially practical. The detection of helium using the mass spectrometer is absolutely ( ) unequivocal. Helium is chemically inert, non-explosive, non-toxic, is present in normal air in a concentration of only 5 ppm and is quite economical. Two types of mass spectrometer are used in commercially available MSLD s ... 

Here the points suspected of leaking at the pressurized test specimen (see Fig. 5.4, d) are carefully traced with a test gas probe which is connected with the leak detector by way of a hose. Either helium or hydrogen can be detected with the INFICON helium leak detectors. The sensitivity of the method and the accuracy of locating leaky points will depend on the nature of the sniffer used and the response time for the leak detector to which it is connected. In addition, it will depend on the speed at which the probe is passed by the leak points and the distance between the tip of the probe and the surface of the test specimen. The many parameters which play a part here make it more difficult to determine the leak rates quantitatively. Using sniffer processes it is possible, virtually independent of the type of gas, to detect leak rates of about 10 mbar l/s. The limitation of sensitivity in the detection of helium is due primarily to the helium in the atmosphere (see Chapter 9, Table VIII). In regard to quantitative measurements, the leak detector and sniffer unit will have to be calibrated together. Here the distance from the specimen and the tracing speed will have to be included in calibration, too. 

Proponents of Gamow s explanation rejoiced at the detection of helium in the far reaches of the universe. In recognition of all the supporting evidence, scientists now refer to Gamow s hypothesis as the Big Bang theory. 

As already discussed above, an ion-separating system (ion spectrometer) is needed for the mass spectrometric detection of helium, which requires high vacuum condition. These systems operate at a total pressure of less than 10 mbar. 

Recent experiments on the electrolysis of LiOD in D2O on a palladium cathode has been claimed to result in cold fusion. The detection of helium, neutrons, and even tritium has been reported. However, there is considerable doubt about the validity of the claims and cold fusion, like polywater will soon be buried and its obituary published. 

Gr. helios, the sun). Janssen obtained the first evidence of helium during the solar eclipse of 1868 when he detected a new line in the solar spectrum. Lockyer and Frankland suggested the name helium for the new element. In 1895 Ramsay discovered helium in the uranium mineral clevite while it was independently discovered in cleveite by the Swedish chemists Cleve and Langlet at about the same time. Rutherford and Royds in 1907 demonstrated that alpha particles are helium nuclei. 

Elastic recoil spectrometry (ERS) is used for the specific detection of hydrogen ( H, H) in surface layers of thickness up to approximately 1 pm, and the determination of the concentration profile for each species as a function of depth below the sample s surfece. When carefully used, the technique is nondestructive, absolute, fast, and independent of the host matrix and its chemical bonding structure. Although it requires an accelerator source of MeV helium ions, the instrumentation is simple and the data interpretation is straightforward. 

Optical detection of magnetic resonance (ODMR) was attempted for measurements of the pH effects on the triplet state of purine to investigate the protonation site of purine at low temperatures (78JA7131). The ODMR spectrum did not show the presence of more than one triplet state at liquid helium temperatures. Since the protonated tautomers 1H,9H (3a) and H,1H (3b) have similar bond structures, their triplets should have similar zero-field parameters and are thus not easy to distinguish by ODMR. 

The purity of the product was checked by vapor phase chromatography on a polyethylene glycol on Teflon column at 72°, 15 p.s.i., and a flow rate of 102 ml. of helium per minute. The sample appeared to be homogeneous, but, since the amine tails badly on the column, it is not possible to detect the presence of a small amount of water (less than 3%). 

Thermal Conductivity Detector In the thermal conductivity detector (TCD), the temperature of a hot filament changes when the analyte dilutes the carrier gas. With a constant flow of helium carrier gas, the filament temperature will remain constant, but as compounds with different thermal conductivities elute, the different gas compositions cause heat to be conducted away from the filament at different rates, which in turn causes a change in the filament temperature and electrical resistance. The TCD is truly a universal detector and can detect water, air, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, sulfur dioxide, and many other compounds. For most organic molecules, the sensitivity of the TCD detector is low compared to that of the FID, but for the compounds for which the FID produces little or no signal, the TCD detector is a good alternative. 

Scientists identified the first carbon nanotubes in 1991. They sealed two graphite rods inside a container of helium gas and sent an electric discharge from one rod to the other. Much of one rod evaporated, but out of the inferno some amazing structures emerged (see illustrations). As well as the tiny 60-atom carbon spheres known as buckminsterfullerene—which had been known since 1985—long, hollow, perfectly straight carbon nanotubes were detected. 

The general operation of the pilot scale reactor has be previously described by Pareek et. al. [3]. However, modifications were required to allow the injection of the gas and liquid tracers, and their subsequent detection at the outlets. The liquid tracer, 5mL Methyl blue solution (lOgL" ), was injected via a syringe inserted into the liquid feed line. Outlet samples were measured with a Shimadzu 1601 UV-Vis Spectrophotometer at a wavelength of 635nm. A pulse (20mL) of helium gas tracer was introduced using an automated control system, with the outlet concentration monitored in real-time with a thermal conductivity detector. Runs were carried out based on a two-level... 

The sources most commonly used so far consisted of sintered disks containing about 100 mg ZnO enriched with 90% Zn. The disks were irradiated with 12 MeV deuterons or 30 MeV He particles, to yield the 78 h activity of Ga, and then annealed by heating in oxygen to 700-1,000 K for about 12 h and cooling down slowly (about 50 K h ) to room temperature. A Nal scintillation counter, 2-3 mm thick, is suitable for the detection of the 93 keV y-rays. Because of the relatively high transition energy, both source and absorber are generally kept at liquid helium temperature. 

Double-resonance spectroscopy involves the use of two different sources of radiation. In the context of EPR, these usually are a microwave and a radiowave or (less common) a microwave and another microwave. The two combinations were originally called ENDOR (electron nuclear double resonance) and ELDOR (electron electron double resonance), but the development of many variations on this theme has led to a wide spectrum of derived techniques and associated acronyms, such as ESEEM (electron spin echo envelope modulation), which is a pulsed variant of ENDOR, or DEER (double electron electron spin resonance), which is a pulsed variant of ELDOR. The basic principle involves the saturation (partially or wholly) of an EPR absorption and the subsequent transfer of spin energy to a different absorption by means of the second radiation, leading to the detection of the difference signal. The requirement of saturability implies operation at close to liquid helium, or even lower, temperatures, which, combined with long experimentation times, produces a... 

To a limited degree, the fill-gas will determine what type of radiation the proportional counter will be able to detect. Argon and helium are the most frequently used fill gases and allow for the detection of alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. When detection of neutrons is necessary, the detectors are usually filled with boron-triflouride gas. 

The second source for which it has been claimed the detection of redshifted spectral lines is IE 1207.4-5209, a radio-quite compact star located in the center of the supernova remnant PSK 1209-51/52. IE 1207.4-5209 has been observed by the Chandra X-ray observatory. Two absorption features have been detected in the source spectrum and have been interpreted (Sanwal et al. 2002) as spectral lines associated with atomic transitions of once-ionized helium in the atmosphere of a strong magnetized (B 1.5 x 1014 G) compact star. This interpretation gives for the gravitational redshift at the star surface z = 0.12 -0.23 (Sanwal et al. 2002), which is reported in Fig. 3 and by the two dashed lines labeled z = 0.12 and z = 0.23. 

The application of helium permits the freezing of the reaction in such stages that the otherwise very reactive intermediates become detectable. Hydrogen thus influences the relative rates of elementary steps but not the overall meehanism which is shown in Fig. 4a (21,62). 

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