>> ^GeeSussFreeK:

>> ^ghark:
It's not made that clear in the video, but the reason he says that the plate is safe to store and handle, but not eat off is because Uranium 238 is usually an alpha emitter. Alpha radiation doesn't penetrate skin that well, but it is very dangerous when ingested and the soft tissues become exposed to it. Please correct me if I'm wrong there.

Depends on if you believe in radiation hormesis or linear no-threshold model . Most likely the truth is somewhere in-between (which by default makes hormesis "more" accurate). In the end, though, it is always best to avoid ingesting heavy metals, radioactive or not.
Learning lots about radiation as of late. There is a lot of fear factor behind it, even though our daily lives are pretty much consumed with radiation...NEATO! Bones full of radioactive carbon, potassium, you name it, you most likely have lots of radioactive isotopes of it Once again, truth stranger than fiction


I find the argument between those two models quite fascinating, they both make sense TBH. One interesting thing I found out recently was the enormous difference in radiation exposure between regular x-ray's and CT scans when visiting the doctor. It makes sense that CT scans expose you to more radiation because they make multiple passes to get a better image - however the difference astonished me - a regular chest xray would expose you to 0.06 mSv while a helical CT scan of the chest would expose you to 8 mSV - thirten hundred and thirty three times as much radiation (although the effective dose only ends up being about one hundred times as much). As a comparison point, the typical human is exposed to 2-3 mSv per year, so with a helical chest CT you're getting 3 years worth of radiation in a few seconds.

>> ^ghark:

It's not made that clear in the video, but the reason he says that the plate is safe to store and handle, but not eat off is because Uranium 238 is usually an alpha emitter. Alpha radiation doesn't penetrate skin that well, but it is very dangerous when ingested and the soft tissues become exposed to it. Please correct me if I'm wrong there.


Depends on if you believe in radiation hormesis or linear no-threshold model . Most likely the truth is somewhere in-between (which by default makes hormesis "more" accurate). In the end, though, it is always best to avoid ingesting heavy metals, radioactive or not.

Learning lots about radiation as of late. There is a lot of fear factor behind it, even though our daily lives are pretty much consumed with radiation...NEATO! Bones full of radioactive carbon, potassium, you name it, you most likely have lots of radioactive isotopes of it Once again, truth stranger than fiction

Oh god. He keeps referring to specific isotopes as elements. Kill the wise one!!!

>> ^KamikazeCricket:
It's legit, yo.
(Geologist)


I'm a physicist who plans on doing this shit for a living. I second the following:

Interesting. My knowledge on fusion is limited to the basic function of it. I know little to nothing about reaction fusion technology. My brain finds it hard to fathom that harnessing the power of the sun couldn't have volatile reputations. More over, IF one fails, the cost of fixing it and how regularly it would fail are questions that I think are valid. A power station going offline for a year isn't the answer to a power crisis really.

For me, I have always liked the KISS principle to energy. Many small manageable solutions. Granted, I think fusion reactor technology is still smart to look to, but only for our really cool space ships and ray guns (like an ion cannon to clear an escape from Hoth). In other words, there are most likely easier and safer, more reliably ways to get our power...right?

(what I mean basically is this seems like one of those things that will get here when it gets here...but for a good solution now, it is not that. And even when it gets here, it's going to take awhile to get all the kinks out. Solar and hydrogen fuel cells seem like a real solution now that is already very mature and fairly plug and play with current technology.)

>> ^Psychologic:
>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
The problem to me with a fusion plant is the energy density. If a catastrophe were to happen, how much of a city would go with it...or how much of a country? I have always liked the idea of everything being its own power station.

The danger of fission is radioactivity. All a "meltdown" does, as far as actual damage, is destroy the reactor. However, it can release radioactive isotopes into the environment, which brings enormous health risks. Fission is self-sustaining, so if the containment fails, the reaction can continue. It should also be noted that fission reactors are far safer today than they were in the past.
Fusion does not have this problem. If the system fails then the reaction stops. It might damage the reactor, but even if the magnet exploded (which would only be a local event) there would be no danger to the surrounding area. As far as I know, the only radiation threat would involve tritium, which is only one fuel method for fusion, and even then there would be far less danger than from a fission reaction.

>> ^GeeSussFreeK:
The problem to me with a fusion plant is the energy density. If a catastrophe were to happen, how much of a city would go with it...or how much of a country? I have always liked the idea of everything being its own power station.


The danger of fission is radioactivity. All a "meltdown" does, as far as actual damage, is destroy the reactor. However, it can release radioactive isotopes into the environment, which brings enormous health risks. Fission is self-sustaining, so if the containment fails, the reaction can continue. It should also be noted that fission reactors are far safer today than they were in the past.

Fusion does not have this problem. If the system fails then the reaction stops. It might damage the reactor, but even if the magnet exploded (which would only be a local event) there would be no danger to the surrounding area. As far as I know, the only radiation threat would involve tritium, which is only one fuel method for fusion, and even then there would be far less danger than from a fission reaction.

>> ^RhesusMonk:
Question regarding fusion: If the binding energies of the two hydrogen isotopes equal 10 MeV, and the binding energy of helium is 28 MeV, wouldn't the fusion require the input of 18 MeV? I don't understand. Doesn't the helium require more energy to hold together than the hydrogen isotopes had to begin with? And, even if the nucleons do just come together, how is there surplus energy if less energy went into the reaction than exists in the product?


Ok, it's a long time since i even looked at physics, but i'm gonna study astrophysics next year so i better make at least an attempt

The electromagnetic force repels the nucleons from each other. The nuclear force attracts them to each other. You have to force the two together. That requires you to overcome the electromagnetic force. So you only need enough energy to do this, and the energy required to do this is usually LESS than the energy that is released for atoms 'below' iron.

The energy basically comes from a conversion of mass to energy. The mass of the combined atoms is not quite equal to the mass of the parts that you combine. Mass is lost, and it manifests as energy. (because e=mc^2, or in other words, energy and mass are 'interchangeable' - you cannot just 'lose' mass)

Question regarding fusion: If the binding energies of the two hydrogen isotopes equal 10 MeV, and the binding energy of helium is 28 MeV, wouldn't the fusion require the input of 18 MeV? I don't understand. Doesn't the helium require more energy to hold together than the hydrogen isotopes had to begin with? And, even if the nucleons do just come together, how is there surplus energy if less energy went into the reaction than exists in the product?

He made a great point that most particle accelerators are in hospitals making isotopes for cancer medication. Next time someone hates on the LHC you can mention that little nugget.

>> ^dannym3141:
>> ^cybrbeast:
I've always seen this experiment as flawed. People assume the act of observation that causes the cat to either be dead or alive must be done by a human. But this is not the case I think, the Geiger counter is the observer and once it observes the decay or not, the cat will either die or not, irrespective of when the box is opened.

But the geiger counter is not an "observer" as the term is accepted. It is simply an inanimate object like the collection of atoms that forms the isotope.


What's the difference? As I read the article linked above, there is none. That's why "observer" is such a dumb term. It implies intelligence or sentience or even humanity, when interaction with any macro scale matter is just as good.

And I agree the video sucks. They never get at the fundamental issue of why the cat doesn't actually exist in superposition.

>> ^cybrbeast:
I've always seen this experiment as flawed. People assume the act of observation that causes the cat to either be dead or alive must be done by a human. But this is not the case I think, the Geiger counter is the observer and once it observes the decay or not, the cat will either die or not, irrespective of when the box is opened.


But the geiger counter is not an "observer" as the term is accepted. It is simply an inanimate object like the collection of atoms that forms the isotope.

The geiger counter acts in a certain way when a certain set of conditions presents itself. When a radioactive particle/burst of energy travels through the gas inside the counter, the gas conducts electricity, the electricity stimulates an output such as clicks. Doesn't have to be clicks either, it could be a guage. Regardless, it is not something that observes. You may as well say that the isotyope itself is an observer because the reaction of the parts in the geiger counter is an extension of what occurs in the isotope.

Schrodingers cat is a great way of simplifying the idea of quantum mechanics, but you still need a basis of what the thought experiment is trying to convey. The cat is just a way of linking quantum mechanics to the real world, it's not particularly important. You can just put the isotope in a box, do away with the cat, hammer and geiger counter and say "we cannot know whether it has decayed or not."

That's the point - we do not know what's happening in the box, because we can't measure it. And until we can measure it, in a quantum mechanical sense, all (or both) states are true.

3030 way past the millennium, check it out
Yo, Deltron thunderforce, ain't no other source of sunlight
Two ton mic, leave you toungue-tied
Runnin amuck with technology with no apology
Shoutin out to my colony with third eye physiology
Millennium past apocalypse is all I spit
Make you swallow it - your weak style, I'll abolish it
with nuclear rockets they glued to your optics with sci-fi
Unsettlin, man and metal blends
Underground chillin with the Mole Man, and his whole fam
Inhibit bacterial growth, material wrote
Impenetrable, incontestable, indigestible intelligence
Never let a computer tell me SHIT
It's rapid innovation, penetratin
Artificial life forms, who bite songs
I'm a buy a vest, lie is next, then I'll flip the bio-techs
Right into the wireless; your third eye is hit with psoriasis
The mightiest, Deltron Zero
Traverse and purge the travesties that tempt your earholds
The area of distribution, lifts the clueless
My flow is like, liquid oxygen
Rip it often with specific impulse, increasin thrust
Grease the cuts - unleash a cluster of thoughts I muster
I talk to touch ya, and rupture commercial communications
Convert solar energy, into imagery
In the mind's eye, blindside the contagious
With radioactive isotopes to decay them
Atomic mass they small as fragments
I magnetize the avid lies
My radiation shields reflects, rejects Decepticons
who take the truth and stretch it long, while I bless a song
Next level incredible, metal melding
Flexability and my engine is never failing

All your rhyme histories combined couldn't violate
the Prime Optimus operative
Use my hydrometer to see how warm you are, watch me form a star
Hydrogen turned to helium when I shine
Ridin 'em revealin 'em leadin 'em to the vacuum
Interact with tunes in my digital citadel
Critical pivotal with the mental shit on you
Spit infinity, hiden energies too dope for our planet
Star spannin, slammin hymms with
mechanical limbs, scanning your lens
with cosmic rays, you'll all get played, your brain's inferior
I hit the lateral AND posterior
My science is eerier
Ionic bonding for your moronic pondering, meet the armorines
My micro machines, might throw your team, into paralysis
They not talented, just a malady
Worry 'bout a salary, creative casualty
Couldn't defrag my power density intensity
Nonequivalence, nine hundred Newtons
Crush you like croutons, you plus Houston
Hiero's like dipoles inside a silo
Turbulence ten-fold, never simple
Defies accepted methods development most unique
Paralyze central nervous when you close to me
Interstellar void fills with color, appears to bubble
and split into four like amoeba
Inhabitin planets with, grandiose boast
and coast like Silver Surfer, feel the purpoise
High velocity, verbal atrocities
Fire resistance, better hire assistants
My pistons glisten ultra, high performance
Inside your private quarters where I fry your components

The Gnome Project near Carlsbad NM is interesting to read about. Set off a bomb in a salt bed to generate medical isotopes and steam for electricity. Didn't quite go as planned (imagine that).

I know about potassium iodide being meted out to prevent the thyroid accumulating radioactive iodine isotopes, though it's likely it's just a joke.

1. I work for a video game company.
2. I'm pretty good at video games, but I don't play fighters.
3. Our "break" room has nothing but fighters: Street Fighter 3, 4 and Marvel Versus Capcom. We have a Wii, but it's always occupied with people playing Smash Bros. Brawl.
4. I once lived on someone's couch and went by the name Guitar Matt, because my name is Matt and all I did was play Guitar Hero.
5. I'll probably work at the same company for the rest of my life.
6. I skate pools.
7. I did not choose my handle because of skateboarding.
8. I just started doing indoor rock climbing, because I'm tired of weight lifting. Ugh.
9. I spend a lot of time with PK Cali (Parkour California) and have met David Belle. On weekends you may see me crawling, climbing and jumping around UCLA, Fullterton college, or various California parks with old walls.
10. My body is always sore.
11. I probably have ADD.
12. Despite probably having ADD, I read a lot of books.
13. I cannot read one book for more than an hour, so I'm usually reading 5 to 10 books at a time.
14. I can't bring myself to study for anything. As such, I'll never finish college.
15. I did a lot of extracurricular activites in high school, despite having a C average -- or maybe that's why I had a C average.
16. Doing drugs has been the only way for me to concentrate. Unfortunatley it does not help me study. (I did not do drugs in high school, nor in college.)
17. I was in academic decathelon in high school because they needed a smart person with a C average. I won a lot of medals.
18. I was in drama and have written, directed and starred in several plays.
19. I was a film major until I realized the reality of filmmaking, namely the spending and aquiring of large sums of money.
20. The man who wrote and directed The Stewardesses, Allan Silliphant, is a family friend. His brother was Sterling Silliphant, who is best known for winning an Academy Award for In the Heat of the Night and being close friends with Bruce Lee.
21. Like my father, I am a jack of all trades and a master of none.
22. My grandfather was in the Navy and worked for General Dynamics during the Cold War, investigating missle silos. He told my father freaky stories about nuclear isotopes and communists hiding in closests. My uncle described my grandfather as being to the right of Archie Bunker. All in the Family was his favortie show, he said nigger a lot, owned a German Shepard and had several guns nearby at all times. He was also an atheist. Oddly enough, it was his atheism that my parents were scared of the most. "Grandpa's going to hell, son." If there's a hell, he'll probably be there, but not for being an atheist.
23. I'm not quite white trash, but I wouldn't be entirely uncomfortable living off the land in a shack full of automatic weapons, distrustful of the government, waiting for the revolution.
24. I'm neither religious nor rascist, nor am I an atheist. I just don't care.
25. I'm writing a book. My screenplays have never sold. One of my professors suggested I write a book, then write the screenplay for the book. Only problem is, I can't concentrate (which is why I wrote screenplays to begin with) so it's taking me forever. Ugh.
26. I have been drawing since conception and have been doing life drawing off and on for 8 years, but I don't see myself pursuing a career in it. It's just for fun -- which pretty much sums up my life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming

*lies, because he shows his ignorance about the scientific data. And people don't argue with me on this, whether you want to say anthropogenic or not is irrelevant to the fact that the isotope data covers a far greater time period than "a few hundred years".