baronz@caen.engin.umich.edu (Aaron L Richards) (12/18/90)
This is not Amiga related, but I think it will interest a number of
you.
-Aaron
- ---(Forwarded from: John_R._Birge@um.cc.umich.edu, Dated:
Thu, 13 Dec 90 12:07
6 EST)---
Some exciting news passed on from UWashington. I think we
should organize a lab immediately. - John
------------------------------------------------------------
SCIENTISTS DISCOVER NEW ELEMENT: ADMINISTRATIUM
The heaviest element known to science was recently
discovered by University physicists here. The element,
tentatively named administratium (Ad), has no protons or
electrons, which means that it has atomic number 0 and
falls outside the natural patterns exhibited by other
elements. However, it does have 1 neutron, 125 assistants
to the neutron, 75 vice neutrons and 111 assistants to the vice
neutrons. This gives it an atomic mass of 312.
The 312 particles are held together by a force involving the
continuous exchange of meson-like particles called "memos".
Because it has no protons or electrons, administratium is inert. Nonetheless,
it can be detected chemically, in that it seems to impede every reaction
in which it is present. According to one of the discoverers, even a small
amount of administratium made one reaction
which normally
lasts less than a second take more than four days.
Administratium has a half-life of approximately three
years. It does not actually decay. Instead, it undergoes
a reorganization in which a vice neutron, assistants to the
vice neutron and certain assistants to the neutron exchange
places. Some studies have indicated that its mass actually
increases after each reorganization, although this is yet
to be explained. Another phenomenon which has been
observed, as expected from the mechanics of minute
particles, is that the more one tries to pin down the
positions of vice neutrons within the structure of
administratium, the more uncertain those positions become.
Within a short time after the discovery was announced,
the existence of the element was confirmed in laboratories
around the world. In addition, a team at the University of
Utah told a press conference they had been able to create
administratium in fusion experiments conducted at ordinary
room temperature. Using highly sophisticated probability
detectors, the team had monitored a stream of memos from a
FAX-mounted device. Dr. May B. No and her associate, Dr.
May B. Yes, said the details of their experiment were being
kept confidential, pending further development of the data.
But, they claimed, there were definitely more memos that
came out of the device than went in.