hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) (05/14/84)
<This article contains no strontium-90> One thing that may be being overlooked is the source of the higher-numbered elements. There is to my knowledge no reason for the Big Bang to have produced anything more complicated than hydrogen, directly. I always understood that the reason for the existance of the other elements was fusion, that is, big star forms, fuses all sorts of things, expells them via one method or another (novas, etc) and then they are available to coalesce into stars and such. Of course, if I have completely got this wrong, then some astrophysicist reader might be polite enough to explain the reason why there is any Uranium left anywhere at all? Hutch
ix241@sdccs6.UUCP (05/15/84)
Relay-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dcdwest.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site sdccs6.UUCP Message-ID: <1475@sdccs6.UUCP> Date: Tue, 15-May-84 08:37:33 PDT e of the reasons for this is that both it and thorium combine with oxygen readily. The oxides are large as are the elements themselves; theyTue, 15-May-84 08:37:33 PDT Organization: U.C. San Diego, Computer Center Lines: 15 So U and Th are not good candidates for blowing up the core. However, there was a natural U fission reactor running for a moderate period of time in West Africa about 2e9+ years ago. It is called the Oklo Phenomomenon after the place in West Africa. It seems that fluvial deposits of uranium oxides built up enough to initiate a chain reaction in the bottom of the river. It was discovered when the site was mined for uranium. Nuclear chemists in Belgium found the daughter products of a reactor in the ore. They were surprised. John Testa UCSD Chemistry sdcsvax!sdccs6!ix241
ix241@sdccs6.UUCP (05/16/84)
Relay-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site dcdwest.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site sdccs6.UUCP Message-ID: <1477@sdccs6.UUCP> Date: Wed, 16-May-84 13:05:55 PDT estruction plans Organization: U.C. San Diego, Computer Center Lines: 27 line eater offering Sorry to repost this but the first paragraph got eaten. Uranium is not a siderophilic element. It tends to be found in the upper mantle and crust. One of the reasons for this is that both it and thorium readily combine with oxygen. The oxides are large as are the elements themselves; they tend to 'float' above the core. So U and Th are not good candidates for blowing up the core. However, there was a natural U fission reactor running for a moderate period of time in West Africa about 2e9+ years ago. It is called the Oklo Phenomomenon after the place in West Africa. It seems that fluvial deposits of uranium oxides built up enough to initiate a chain reaction in the bottom of the river. It was discovered when the site was mined for uranium. Nuclear chemists in Belgium found the daughter products of a reactor in the ore. They were surprised. John Testa UCSD Chemistry sdcsvax!sdccs6!ix241