The Thing

Oh one more thing. Can someone tell me how to calculate the power (amount of watts) generated from a sample of radioactive materials, given the Q-value? What other values do you need for that calculation? I remember Swansont giving the result of his calculations in the original homemade atomic reactor thread, but how to actually do the calculation? Also, can someone suggest any sites for knowing more on this subject? I've done google searches but so far good sites have eluded me.

What's a good material to use for this experiment? That is, it is: a) not too expensive & not too rare? b) decent Q-value? (several MeV) c) decent half-life? (several decades) Thanks.

Lol, yes indeed. Good point. Let's say a chemistry / physics lab.

Doesn't Americium-241 have a nice half-life of 460 years? And I've heard that it has 5.5 MeV energy release. What are some radioactive isotopes that has an even greater Q-value? I am doing an experiment on this (okay, it's the one that YT posted a long time ago about the homemade atomic reactor). I'm NOT doing this at home, but I'm hoping to get a university or college sponsor so I can use their labs. So, where can I get these radioactive materials, such as Amercium 241, without collecting them from smoke detectors or radium painted watches? Does a university lab usually store these things?

Okay, let's say I want the lump of metal warm for at least a decade. Oh also, is the radioactive lump of metal ALWAYS warmer than its surroundings, even if you heat its surroundings up its temperature will rise higher than the surroundings?

Thanks swansont & woelen. Those responses helped a lot.

Why is it that radium emits heat and so the sample is always a few degrees warmer than its surroundings? Any explanation? Also, what other elements or compounds exhibit this behavior? Are there any others besides radium? Thanks a lot for any answers.

Oh yes, but if CO can't find any excess oxygen to react with in an incomplete combustion, woosh things are gonna get nasty, expecially if there's a person right beside it breathing it in for an hour.

IIRC, a single strand of DNA in a human chromosome can reach lengths of some 5 centimeters.

I remember something about 9 times being the maximum times and the paper gets to 512 layers, and that's how I remembered that 2^9 equals 512 all the time. Can you get to ten if you try to fold the paper with a gigantic machine?

How dangerous would this experiment be if I'm working in a university lab (supposedly)? Does a university generally store radium for laboratories? What other radioactive materials can be used for this experiment besides radium? Hmm...I may try it out...

Oh lol. Srry. For some unexplainable reason I seem to have sort of missed that link in post 3. Reading it now... Where does the phosphorus come in in this experiment?

Superfluidity is the ability to flow without viscosity. Superfluids do "defy the laws of physics", as it can move along (due to its shortage of any viscosity) without friction. It's kind of like superconductors, as it is a super-thermal-conductor, and like it is impossible to set a voltage difference in a superconductor, it is impossible to set a heat gradient in superfluids.

Alright. So, can anyone tell me how to do this experiment? I am actually itching to try it out - now where can I get some radium...

http://www.scienceforums.net/forums/showthread.php?t=14951 I've never heard of this experiment before (the one with the decaying phosphorus). Care to elaborate, YT?

I just found this. Organic compounds not only have giant structures but gigantic names to go with them. And I mean GIGANTIC. Look at this word I found in wikisource: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Methionylthreonylthreonyl...isoleucine Of course, there are even longer ones. DNA can have WAY more letters in its written form.

It's all in the title: What, in your opinion, is the most destructive virus in history? This does not mean which virus actually caused the most troubles globally, but which virus had the greatest destroying abilities. I vote for CIH, as it can annihilate the users' BIOS, forcing them to buy new HARDWARE!!

Geckos do cling to surfaces using Van der Waal forces like woelen said. They use tiny microscopic hairs called setae, and on top of each seta there is a tiny pad called the spatulae. And when this pad comes in contact with surfaces the molecular forces (van der waal) between the molecules in the spatulae and the molecules on the surface gives the gecko more the sufficient forces to hang onto the wall. The gecko then peels the pads off like tape, and keeps on crawling.

There are different ways for polymer chains to terminate after it grows (such as the natural process called [math]\beta-hydride[/math] elimination. The termination for polymer chains are quite random during polymerization, and this causes a polymer to be able to have polymer chains of various lengths.

Down in the individual atoms there is still the nuclear strong force (residual strong force that acts upon hadrons: mesons and baryons) acting upon the nucleus to keep it all together. Else the atom will just explode with protons flying everywhere away from each other.

Gregory Olsen just got down. He spent 21 million dollars on the trip as well as 1500 hours of training beforehand. 10 days in space. This is what happens when you are rich. Maybe when I'm his age space travelling would be as common as travelling by airplanes right now - extremely slim chance, but one can hope...

War of the Worlds. It was okay, not good and not bad. Apparently, humans make REALLY good fertilizers . Hmm...that gives me an idea...

I believe hydrochloric acid can be concentrated to JUST ABOUT 40%, but then it would be fuming profusely.

You mean the [math]CO_3^{2-}[/math] Srry, couldn't resist. DON'T KILL ME!!!!!!!

Promethium, I know for a fact, has been found on the surface of a star in Andromeda from its spectrum.