Torbernite

Discussion in 'Science & Nature' started by Hal Pollner, May 30, 2018.

  1. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    I have a sample of a rare radioactive mineral called "Torbernite", which is the mineral compound Hydrated Copper Uranyl Phosphate, a Uranium-bearing mineral used in experiments requiring the emission of Alpha Particles and Gamma Radiation.

    This sample was supplied as a calibrating source for the Geiger Counter which I ordered from a scientific supply company called United Nuclear.

    I'm going to build a Cloud Chamber, where Alpha emissions can be seen from the traces left by Alpha Particles in the Co2 cloud in the chamber.

    The scale on the Geiger Counter reads in mR/hr (Milliroentgens per hour)

    Nuclear Physicists Oppenheimer, Fermi, and Teller would have been proud of me!

    Hal
    005.JPG
     
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  2. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    Do I understand what you just said? No, I don't think so. I'm hardly used to Microsoft's Storage Cloud and don't fully understand what I think I know about it. I always wanted one of those Geiger Counters that finds coins and rusty nails and stuff but never got one.
     
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  3. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    I know someone who found a lot of Mexican-American War stuff with one of those, mostly from a battlefield (Palo Alto) that hadn't yet been so designated. I think he donated most of it to the museum that was later built there, largely because he was one of the people who campaigned to have it designated as a national historical park. It was just a vacant field when I lived there.
     
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  4. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Gentlemen, you are both referring to Metal Detectors, which have nothing to do with Geiger Counters.

    Metal Detectors, or "Treasure Finders" detect Metals, where Geiger Counters detect Radioactive Minerals.

    Neither detector can be used for the other's purpose.

    Hal
     
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  5. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Hal Pollner
    Seems like everywhere I read nowadays regarding ionizing radiation the term Roentgen has been mostly replaced. Sieverts seems to be "in". But each term has specific usage. "REMS" back in the day referred to an equivalent dose of radiation as applied to absorbtion by the human body. "Radiation Equivalent Man". Whole-body exposure to 600 REMS was thought to be lethal pretty often, while 1,000 definitely was.

    The well-documented deaths of Harry Daghlian and Louis Slotin have been carefully studied. Estimates of exposure by these poor souls was over 10,000 REMS. Their pioneering work was instrumental in the understanding of the fission process thoroughly.
    Frank
     
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  6. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    Date 3 January 1961
    Location National Reactor Testing Station, Idaho Falls, Idaho (now Idaho National Laboratory)
    Outcome INES Level 4 (accident with local consequences)
    Deaths 3

    [​IMG]
    November 29, 1961: The SL-1 reactor vessel being removed from the reactor building, which acted substantially like the containment building used in modern nuclear facilities. The 60-ton Manitowoc Model 3900 crane had a 5.25-inch (13.3 cm) steel shield with a 9-inch (23 cm) thick lead glass window to protect the operator.

    SERIOUS BUSINESS!
     
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  7. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Is this the location of the Army/ Air Force incident that ended the Army's nuclear program?
     
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  8. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    It all comes down to this:

    (Postwar Bikini Test, July 25,1946)
    H.P.
    553.jpg
     
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  9. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Daghlian and Slotin tragedies were postwar incidents. They died in agony.

    H.P.
     
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  10. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Hal Pollner
    Slotin died in 1946. Daghlian I think 1945, not certain on that. Both died messing around with the same hunk of Plutonium which had been earmarked for the 3rd. nuclear bomb drop on Japan. Actually, the bombing was scheduled for July 16, think it was, and Japan surrendered on July 15.......
    Frank
     
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  11. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    July 16, 1945 was the first test of an atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert. It was an "Implosion Type" device, nicknamed "Fat Man".

    Three weeks later, on Aug. 6, the B-29 "Enola Gay" dropped a "Gun Type" Uranium bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. It destroyed 60% of the city and killed 60,000 civilians instantly. The bomb had a yield of 15,000 tons of TNT, even though only about 2% of the 140 pounds of U-235 fissioned!

    Three days later, on Aug. 9, the B-29 "Bock's Car" dropped a Fat Man bomb on Nagasaki.

    Six days later, on Aug. 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally.

    The formal surrender took place aboard the battleship USS Missouri, on Sept. 2, with General MacArthur presiding.

    Here's a schematic diagram of the Hiroshima Uranium Bomb:

    Hal
    little-boy-bomb.jpg
     
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  12. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Hal Pollner
    Any who think these are now "trying times", ought to go back and read the goings-on you mention. Few of us are old enough to remember, and those who are not are simply unable to mentally comprehend the incredibly complicted series of events which Los Alamos carried out while they unerringly ended the war.
    Frank
     
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  13. Hal Pollner

    Hal Pollner Veteran Member
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    Right U are, Frank!

    The most brilliant scientists in the world were at work around the clock at Los Alamos from 1943, when the lab went into operation, until the surrender of Japan, but even after that, there was a political and military push to develop the "Super" as Edward Teller, its "Father" called it.

    The Super, the first H-bomb, was detonated on Elugelab Island in the Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific, on Nov. 1, 1952, yielding 10.4 megatons. The entire island disappeared!

    This energy release was about 700 times that of the Hiroshima bomb , which was estimated at 15,000 tons of TNT.

    Hal
     
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    Last edited: Jun 1, 2018
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