What to do, oh what to do...

[YourEverydayWaffle]

Hey guys. I recently decided I would do some nuclear chemistry stuff. I'm going to try to reproduce one of the first nuclear chemistry experiments, the bombardment of N₁₄ with alpha particles to [hopefully] form O₁₇ and some protons. It's going to take a bit of time to get the N₁₄ or the apparatus set up, so... anything interesting nuclear-chemistry-ish you guys think I should do? I've got an Am₂₄₁ button source (α emitter, 1 uCi, ~3.7 uSv/h), Geiger counter, and some other assorted things of that nature. So, any interesting simple-ish nuclear chemistry-related things you've heard of? Just curious what's possible.

Edited January 19, 2015 by YourEverydayWaffle

[K^2]

How do you plan to detect the O17? At uni, I would have done mass-spec or NMR, but these aren't exactly at-home options. I suppose, you can just straight up detect oxygen, but it'd be hard to guarantee that it's not just from leaks.

[YourEverydayWaffle]

I'd probably try to detect the protons instead if possible. I've been meaning to make a dry ice cloud chamber, and could incorporate that with this by using a certain amount of shielding to capture or stop the alpha particles, and hopefully let protons through when n14 is applied (and check for paths there from protons) or use something like CaFl as a target to emit gamma rays upon absorbing a proton. I'm pretty sure my Geiger counter picks up gamma rays, so this may be a more suitable method. It's still in the R&D stages, if you will, so I'm still deciding on some of the finer details.