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The Mystery of Glenn Seaborg's Missing Plutonium: Solved
KentuckyFC writes: In the early 1940s, Glenn Seaborg made the first lump of plutonium by bombarding uranium-238 with neutrons in two different cyclotrons for over a year, The resulting plutonium, chemically separated and allowed to react with oxygen, weighed 2.77 micrograms. It was the first macroscopic sample ever created and helped win Seaborg a Nobel prize ten years later. The sample was displayed at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley until the early naughties, when it somehow disappeared. Now nuclear detectives say they've found Seaborg's plutonium and have been able to distinguish it from almost all other plutonium on the planet using a special set of non-destructive tests. The team says the sample is now expected to go back on display at Seaborg's old office at Berkeley.
They weighed it?
Mostly random stuff.
But who's going to pay for my operation? Lesson learned: don't swallow plutonium, no matter how appealing!
P.S. The side benefit was, if I had to go to the bathroom at night, I didn't need nightlights...once I started to go, it all glowed in the dark, providing sufficient light to see!
the early naughties, those were the good ole days.
It ought to be the Noughties, which is the proper pun for that decade.
...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
It's a perfectly cromulent way to spell noughties.
Naughties arguably fits in some regions, as one of the characteristic aspects of that decade was a relaxation of sexual taboos.
It's pure Pu-239, so that's rather unlikely.
Just like every decade for as long as any of us have been alive?
Learn to love Alaska
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000s_%28decade%29
On January 1, 2000, the BBC listed the noughties (derived from "nought" a word used for zero in many English-speaking countries), as a potential moniker for the new decade.
And Pu-239 has a half life of 24,100 years.
It's distinguishable from other plutonium, because it got here from 1985.
Well, if the terrorists were also able to obtain an equal amount of antimatter, they could liberate about the same amount of energy as you would get from burning 4 gallons of gasoline. You'd also have to worry about 6360 decays per second, which is about as much radiation as you emit. Pu-239 emits quite a bit of radiation per decay, a total of 207.1 MeV of various neutrons, gamma rays, and fission fragments, which is about .2 microwatts.
The big question though would be, if you made a miniature fission bomb out of it, what would the yield be? Sorry to disappoint, folks, but this is probably not possible. "A spherical untampered critical mass is about 11 kg (24.2 lbs), 10.2 cm (4") in diameter". Calculating the compression required to make the sample mass critical would be nontrivial, but it's well into the "diamond anvil" range, and far beyond what is possible with explosives. Plutonium compresses relatively well, for a metal, but not that well.
So, in order to avoid the biggest health risks associated with this sample, I recommend that you not eat it.
I simply stop reading when an author makes obvious grammar mistakes.
They haven't taught grammar in schools since the early naughties
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
The method described did not help them find the plutonium. The method helped them identify it as being the right piece once it was found.
Is the gradual re-purposing of the Lawrence Hall Of Science from a museum explaining the history of nuclear research to just another science museum presenting dinosaurs, earthquakes and global warming. LHS used to be a unique historical resource. "Concerns about radiation" and political correctness turned it into a generic and politically correct science museum.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
Aren't such things illegal in Berkeley because of the Nuclear Free Berkeley Act (Chapter 12.90):
http://codepublishing.com/CA/Berkeley/cgi/NewSmartCompile.pl?path=Berkeley12/Berkeley1290/Berkeley1290.html
Please don't tell us how you pronounce "thought". Thanks.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
Well, that's one way to wean yourself off the Internet...I usually grit my teeth and press on.
Though I still lose it when somebody writes "ex-patriot".
>the sample is now expected to go back on display at Seaborg's old office at Berkeley.
Because every self-respecting academic has the odd bit of plutonium lying about. It really helps with the mad scientist cred.
Some mornings it's hardly worth chewing through the restraints to get out of bed.
the noughties were dominated by dreadnoughts on the high seas
call them the dreadnoughties?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Lump? 2.7 micrograms, I'd call it a small speck.
We went to check on Seaborg's plutonium, only to discover it had been replaced with a piece of uranium-235!!
Thuft.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
I was honored to know Glenn Seaborg while working at Lawrence Berkeley Labs in the 1980's. By then, Manhattan Project was long behind him, as was his Nobel prize, the Atomic Energy Commission work, and his chancellorship of the University of California. Yet he was still a kind and supportive scientist who was deeply interested in any research - whether in physics, astronomy, chemistry, or biology. He recognized the need to teach music and art alongside science and math, and would visit local high schools to encourage students.
I once met him at the Lawrence Hall of Science, walking around the old cyclotron. When I asked him about it, he said that he'd been wondering how the field magnets had been mounted (it was perhaps 40 years after the Manhattan Project). After a short chat he invited a few 12 year old kids over, and told stories about using the beast to create new elements. Amazing guy.
Pu 241 has 14 year half life [while] Pu-239 has a half life of 24,100 years.
So? Just add 2 and you're all done within 14 years -- problem solved.
If it's good enough for finance, it's certainly good enough for science.
If the universe is someone's simulation -- does that mean the stars are just stuck pixels?
TFA says the sample was removed from a display for safety concerns. According to this source, Pu 239 has a specific activity of .063 curies/g. For a 2.7ug sample, that's 0.175 uC. I don't get why anyone thought safety was an issue for such a tiny source.
So, in order to avoid the biggest health risks associated with this sample, I recommend that you not eat it.
A few micrograms? Harmless to eat. Famously compared to caffeine.
You'd need to inhale it to begin worrying.
In fact there is some evidence that ingesting plutonium extends life. http://atomicinsights.com/how-...
(no mutant powers though)
Reminds me when i wanted to text "Sweta" (Short calling name for "Swetlana") on my phone to a colleague of mine and my phone corrected it to "Sweetie".....
So early naughties were the nineteen-sixties?
Ezekiel 23:20
Only if you're a Brit.
Ezekiel 23:20
the brits built the first dreadnought, yes. everyone was so impressed everyone built one
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It was correctly labelled, at the correct institution, in the place you would expect it to be stored, and it weighed the correct amount.
But that wasn't good enough. They had to wait and see if it wouldn't decay in a particular way.
I am never going to let these guys tidy up my lab or do the filing.
Recycle PCs and build a wireless community network www.hillsborough.org.nz
I now have a headache and my cheeks hurt from laughter. Thanks everyone for all the great comments. It was refreshing to hear all the jokes and not all the anger and hatred that usually comes with public sites. Who said nerds aren't funny? Cheers and keep moving forward Science On!
Errr, why? It would seem a perfectly sensible construct for someone who used to be a patriot but for whatever reason (money, loathing for their home-country's debased political establishment) has ceased to be a patriot.
There's the other homophone "expatriate", for someone who lives in another country to that of their allegiance, but that's a completely different concept. For example, I mostly earn my income as an expatriate, but it would be impossible for me to earn anything as an ex-patriot (since I have never been a patriot).
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"
It ought to be the Noughties
Except that's pronounced "Nawftees." Just doesn't work.
Is that a joke about the vagaries of English spelling/pronounciation (rough, through, bough, etc)or do you really not know that it derives from "nought" which rhymes with "ought"?
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
It's not really a grammatical error, more a sign that the writer doesn't read much, and hence indicative of illiteracy. It's like using "to all intensive purposes" instead of "to all intents and purposes", or "should of" instead of "should've": it shows that you've only ever heard it said, not written down
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
Is that a joke about the vagaries of English spelling/pronounciation (rough, through, bough, etc)
Fank you for having more of a clue than a few other folks, apparently!
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
What tehcyder said...sorry I wasn't clearer. A lot of people (at least, in online fora) would indeed call you an ex-patriot out of semiliteracy. And it's misleading as to what the motivations of an expat are.
Reading someone's motivations from their actions has always been a pretty fraught guessing game. It's not as if people are reknowned for their consistency or lack of hypocrisy in general.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"