[ RadSafe ] 10 rem from lightning?? (UNCLASSIFIED)

[Jeff Terry]

Begin forwarded message:

>
> From: "Borisky, Michael (Civ, ARL/ADLO)" <michael.borisky at us.army.mil>
> Date: March 30, 2010 10:12:14 AM CDT
> To: "Baumbaugh, Joel T CIV SPAWARSYSCEN-PACIFIC,55430" <joel.baumbaugh at navy.mil 
> >, "Ted de Castro" <tdc at xrayted.com>, <radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu>
> Subject: RE: [ RadSafe ] 10 rem from lightning?? (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> I thought that the only way electrons could reach relativistic  
> speeds was in
> the presence of a vacuum.  And I thought that relativistic speeds are
> necessary to generate brem.
>
> Mike Borisky
> ARL Radiation Safety
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Baumbaugh,  
> Joel T
> CIV SPAWARSYSCEN-PACIFIC,55430
> Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 9:04 AM
> To: Ted de Castro; radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
> Subject: [ RadSafe ] 10 rem from lightning??
>
> Of course you don't need a vacuum for Bremsstrahlung x-rays Ted...
> Whether its generated from the plasma or (I'm guessing) mostly Compton
> collisions w/air (elastic scattering w/molecular nitrogen)...
>
>
>
> Joel Baumbaugh
>
> SSC-Pacific
>
> San Diego, CA
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu
> [mailto:radsafe-bounces at health.phys.iit.edu] On Behalf Of Ted de  
> Castro
> Sent: Monday, March 29, 2010 5:43 PM
> To: radsafe at health.phys.iit.edu
> Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] 10 rem from lightning??
>
>
>
> I think is it incredibly unlikely that you could get x-rays from  
> lightning!
>
>
>
> You get x-rays from energetic x-rays striking a target and one way the
>
> electrons get energetic is by "falling" through a potential IN VACUUM!
>
>
>
> When the electrons are conducted through a potential - even when the
>
> conductor is a plasma - there is resistance that evenly distributes  
> the
>
> energy along the path of conductance and thus the electrons never  
> reach
>
> a very high energy.
>
>
>
> No vacuum - no x-rays.
>
>
>
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> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
>
>
>