Posted on 04/10/2006 7:50:32 PM PDT by blam
I thought the heavy water was a by-product for an ammonia plant... seems to ring a bell from Randy Rhodes' "The Making of the Atom Bomb", but I could be incorrect.
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
"And God said, 'Hold muh beer 'n' watch this...'"
[BANG!]
God put it there, 6000 years ago, to test our faith.
ROTFLOL
Using your form, I owe about a gazillion dollars, LOL.
Thanks for the 'wake-up' call, LOL.
dang, now I ain't got no more 'scuses. :-(
Hitler build the heavy water plants in Norway. The Norwegians had no use for heavy water, but Hitler was playing around with a possible nuclear reactor and needed the heavy water to shield against the radiation. There's a recent book that claims that Hitler that an atomic bomb, but this is incorrect. It's possible that he had achieved a self sustained nuclear reaction, but he was a long ways from a bomb. (From the book review, I believe the book admits this, though I haven't read it).
Nope. It does not affect it in the least bit. C-14 does not equal U-235. They have no affect on each other.
If you are referring to the relation of the natural abundance with time, C-14 does not operate on the same mechanism that U-235 does. The C-14 abundance is relatively constant because it is constantly produced in small quantities in the upper atmosphere. Since it only has a half life of ~5700 years, none of it could have remained even if 100% of all carbon at the formation of our planet was C-14. Contrast this with U-235 that has a half-life of 700 million years and no mechanism of production (it is formed in supernovas or other significant stellar events). Obviously a significant fraction of U-235 remains even after 6 half-lives (which if you do the calculation is about 1.5% of the initial abundance). Try the calculation with the half life of C-14 if it had no production rate (~800,000 half-lives--hint: you won't be able to use most calculators to find a value this small).
Doesn't affect the atomic dating method for measuring much older and longer periods of time: Potassium/Argon. In this method a radioactive isoptope of postassium degenerates into inert Argon gas at a constant rate. It has nothing to do with uranium.
I'm jealous. We have to refuel every 18 months.
Somebody evidently was inhaling.
Thanks for the info. WWII history is fascinating, including pre- & post-.
Heck, I find pretty much all history fascinating. It was one of my favorite subjects in school. What I have a hard time adjusting to now, though, is that the JFK assasination, LBJ, Rihard Nixon, and Viet Nam are all history and not current events, LOL. :-D
Dang, when you start saying 'I remember when...' or 'I was there when...', then you know you're on the downhill side. :-(
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.