Alpha decay go brrrrrrr
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 14 Sep 17:51
https://mander.xyz/post/37972788

#science_memes

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notabot@piefed.social on 14 Sep 18:29 next collapse

Woahhh. That's heavy maaannn.

AtariDump@lemmy.world on 14 Sep 20:56 collapse
quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 14 Sep 19:26 next collapse

Put that chunk of uranium on a scale and you have a 700 milion year calendar

slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org on 14 Sep 20:04 collapse

Thanks but i find an annual calendar already pretty overwhelming

Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world on 14 Sep 21:00 next collapse

So I ran the numbers. U-235 decays into Pb-207, which means about 12% of its mass is radiated away in alpha decay. Which sounds like a fuckton.

Also, it’ll mean that that chunk of lead will be a touch heavier, at 13.2 lbs

The Maths:

U-235 decays into Pb-207. To three significant digits, 207/235 = 0.881, equivalent to 88.1%, meaning 11.9% is radiated away.
88.1% of 15 lbs = 13.2 lbs.

ryannathans@aussie.zone on 14 Sep 23:36 next collapse

And that’s ignoring spontaneous fission which is probably happening to some extent to some of the isotopes

sga@piefed.social on 15 Sep 13:52 collapse

also, uranium's half life is 700 million years, so we expect (207/235)*7.5 (of lead) + 7.5 (uranium) ~ 14.106382978723405 lump.

also, a lot of the helium produced will remain trapped inside (most heavy metal lumps act as sponges for little gasses). but 700 mil years is also a large amount of time, so much of it would diffuse out. I could checkup diffusion statistics for he d pb-u but i would have to probably do a double integral (as pb-u combination is not fixed, and we can not simply do the error function calculation), so skipping that. but it is safe to say that we will have a lump of ~50% U, 44% pb, and 6% He (by mass), and a significant amount of he will remain in

Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world on 16 Sep 08:56 collapse

So it would be more accurate to say that 13.2 lbs would be a minimum for the lump’s mass.

cryoistalline@lemmy.ml on 14 Sep 21:13 next collapse

u-235 has a half life of 704 million years. only half of it would have decayed.

Zuriz@sh.itjust.works on 16 Sep 05:57 collapse

1 hour here is 7 years on earth .jpg

ChicoSuave@lemmy.world on 14 Sep 21:27 next collapse

So a chunk of lead today could have been pre-cambrian uranium?

hperrin@lemmy.ca on 14 Sep 23:11 next collapse

GOD DAMNIT! Who touched my Uranium-235?? I left it RIGHT HERE where this lead is.

SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org on 14 Sep 23:23 next collapse

Just eat the lead to make all the worries disappear

ryannathans@aussie.zone on 14 Sep 23:35 next collapse

Hey where did my thorium 231 go?

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world on 15 Sep 05:03 collapse

hey where did my francium go

somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com on 15 Sep 16:23 collapse

burps

ThrowawayPermanente@sh.itjust.works on 15 Sep 14:57 next collapse

Whose responsible this?!?!

xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works on 15 Sep 20:03 collapse

Somebody touch-a my U235

jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 15 Sep 01:35 next collapse

Reminds me of my ingot of invar. Every few years I try to think of something to do with it, but still haven’t come up with anything.

zorblitz@mander.xyz on 16 Sep 10:53 collapse

What’s invar?

jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 16 Sep 12:31 collapse

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invar

In short, it is an alloy that experiences almost zero thermal expansion or contraction.

klemptor@startrek.website on 15 Sep 15:04 next collapse

Awww greyhound snoot 😍

skisnow@lemmy.ca on 15 Sep 15:10 next collapse

Who measures uranium in pounds? I feel like if you’re not using metric you probably shouldn’t be handling uranium.

Maroon@lemmy.world on 15 Sep 15:34 next collapse

No snoot, there’d be crabs!!

This meme is false.

[deleted] on 16 Sep 09:23 collapse

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