Not only are lead nuclei heavier than gold ones (207 vs 200), but the atoms are smaller (ionic radius 119pm vs 137pm). There is every reason for Pb to be heavier. Why is it lighter? (11.34 vs 19.31 g/cm^3)
They both have a FCC crystal structure, so the packing should be equally efficient...
Thanks Charles, but I am even more in trouble that before. Do you know of any experiment that would show that repulsive force? I thought that ferromagnetism was more or less the same thing as eddy currents. Why on Earth would there be some eddy electrons behaving in a a certain way and...
When a magnet comes close to a piece of iron, we all know what happens. Isn't that an exception to Lenz's law? Shouldn't the eddy currents in the iron be such as to push the magnet back? Let's say you have a plate of metal on a table. Your magnet goes down, north first. You increase the magnetic...
Actually I have just realized that the result will depend on the decay constant inside the body of the person too. If you are walking on a gamma emmiter, than a lot a the radiation will go through. The radiation intake will depend more or less linearly on the volume of the person. If we are...
Let there be a point A situated at height h above the ground. How much radiation does it get from the ground, if every point on the ground emits a certain quantity of power per surface P (J/s/m²)?
Let's define a circle of radius r, whose center is right under A. If we can calculate the circle...
thank you but I still have a question. If Wikipedia is right in saying "a G-M tube can detect the presence of radiation, but not its energy", then it means that the Geiger counter can measure Becquerels. Since some betas are more energetic than others, how can we turn the Becquerels into Grays...
I have been looking for an answer about what a Geiger counter actually measures. I am puzzled by the claim that it can actually give measures in sieverts/hour, i.e, measure the dose equivalent received by the body. On Wikipedia (Geiger counter article), I read: "a G-M tube can detect the...
I am reffering to posts on the first or second page of this thread, from where I took your quote (by the way thank you for all your interventions QuantumPion). I was not aware that my post would appear at the very end of the thread. The problem is:
1. U232 is often quoted as the solution to...
There to be or not to be U232...
There is an apparent contradiction, to my eyes at least, between some of the posts on this thread. U233 is said to be difficult to process because of U232, and then Mr QuantumPion tells us the above: no U232. If you get U233 inside the reactor with no U232...
To anyone new to the field of nuclear physics, the units are positively nonplussing. For example, I have just understood that the Becquerel (desintegration per second) is not very significant if you do not tell what kind of Becquerel you are talking about, since different desintegrations yield...
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors might be a fantastic source of energy for the future. It looks like the world is divided into two clans and the moment: those who have heard of LFTR and are enthusiastic, and those who have hardly ever heard of it because it is hardly mentioned even in the most...
Some nuclear reactors are called fast breeders because:
1. they use fast neutrons, which means the neutrons have more energy than "thermal neutrons", that have the same energy as the surrounding material.
2. they are called "breeders" because they "breed" fuel. U238 is not a fissile atom, but by...