The second image from the article looks like caelid map from elden ring
Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
21–30 of 91 posts
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#22One language usage question, and one content question: "Melted sand"?? Isn't it "molten sand"? Is my hunch completely wrong, or is the author not a native speaker? Neither am I, but melted sand sounds so weird to my ears. This all happened in a matter of seconds, so atoms didn’t have time to arrange into stable structures,[...] Isn't seconds kinda like ages at that scale? Atoms needing longer than seconds to arrange…
To my ears “Molten” would imply that the sand is currently in liquid form. The sense ”melted” is used here, as having been melted, seems right. You melt sand to get molten sand, right?
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#23> The only other known naturally forming quasicrystal was found inside meteorite fragments Does it really count as "naturally forming" if we had to artificially construct and detonate a nuke during a carefully conducted experiment to create this one?
We’re a product of nature, it’s mistaken to believe we are above nature or that nuclear weapons aren’t also part of nature. We’re also very much dependent on nature and natural forces. So everything we do is, even if many steps removed, still an act of nature.
Diamonds are also product of nature, but when we grow them in a lab they aren't often considered to be "naturally formed". It's just that the lab we used in this instance was part of the Jornada del Muerto.
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#24What was special about the first nuclear test, rather than the thousands of others, at least hundreds of which were also in the Nevada desert? Obviously it's historically significant, and the new forms of matter were first discovered there , so that's why trinitite is named after the site. But 80 years later, wouldn't we expect the other bomb sites to have just as many interesting chemical reactions?
We do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite#Similar_materials says "Occasionally, the name trinitite is broadly applied to all glassy residues of nuclear bomb testing, not just the Trinity test" and lists hiroshimaite and kharitonchiki as similar glassy residues from Hiroshima and the Semipalatinsk Test Site, respectively.
The general term for for the fused glass-like material formed during a nuclear test" seems to be "atomsite" - https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/3001767 . Some images of atomsite from the Trinity and Semipalatinsk test sites are at http://www.radioaktivitaet.uni-bremen.de/downloads/Pittauero...
As a wild guess, what's special is it might be the easiest to get, with many samples to study.
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#25> The only other known naturally forming quasicrystal was found inside meteorite fragments Does it really count as "naturally forming" if we had to artificially construct and detonate a nuke during a carefully conducted experiment to create this one?
Well, it's more natural than something like a lab diamond. This one forms naturally given unnaturally created, but not completely implausible, conditions. There is a big difference between "we blew up rocks and they formed this mineral" and "we treated rocks with X acid and Y acid and then carefully annealed them under extreme pressure and they formed this mineral"
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#26One language usage question, and one content question: "Melted sand"?? Isn't it "molten sand"? Is my hunch completely wrong, or is the author not a native speaker? Neither am I, but melted sand sounds so weird to my ears. This all happened in a matter of seconds, so atoms didn’t have time to arrange into stable structures,[...] Isn't seconds kinda like ages at that scale? Atoms needing longer than seconds to arrange…
Think of dropping a water balloon onto a pin. It pops instantly, but the water (like the temperature and overpressure) takes a while to dissipate into a puddle.
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#27One language usage question, and one content question: "Melted sand"?? Isn't it "molten sand"? Is my hunch completely wrong, or is the author not a native speaker? Neither am I, but melted sand sounds so weird to my ears. This all happened in a matter of seconds, so atoms didn’t have time to arrange into stable structures,[...] Isn't seconds kinda like ages at that scale? Atoms needing longer than seconds to arrange…
I think it's "molten" while it is still liquid but not once it crystalizes; at that point it's "melted"
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#28> The clathrate’s “cage” shapes are 12-sided dodecahedrons and 14-sided tetrakaidecahedrons made of silicon atoms...
Totally OT but if "dodeca" means 12, why isn't 14 just "tetradeca"? What's the "kai" for?
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#29What was special about the first nuclear test, rather than the thousands of others, at least hundreds of which were also in the Nevada desert? Obviously it's historically significant, and the new forms of matter were first discovered there , so that's why trinitite is named after the site. But 80 years later, wouldn't we expect the other bomb sites to have just as many interesting chemical reactions?
We do. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite#Similar_materials says "Occasionally, the name trinitite is broadly applied to all glassy residues of nuclear bomb testing, not just the Trinity test" and lists hiroshimaite and kharitonchiki as similar glassy residues from Hiroshima and the Semipalatinsk Test Site, respectively. The general term for for the fused glass-like material formed during a nuclear test" seems t…
Adding to this, I seem to recall that the specific geological/chemical conditions on the site is consequential for the sorts of glass produced. So presumably, Hiroshmiaite and Trinitite would actually be physically distinct as a material.
As I recall, research on meteorite impacts use the similarly formed Impactite to deduce various things about ancient impact sites. As an aside, I think they also do really elaborate calculations of force and angle of impact based on surveying the spread pattern and distribution of these little glass chunks.
Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test
#30> The clathrate’s “cage” shapes are 12-sided dodecahedrons and 14-sided tetrakaidecahedrons made of silicon atoms... Totally OT but if "dodeca" means 12, why isn't 14 just "tetradeca"? What's the "kai" for?
kai means "and"
I guess like asking why 120 is said "one hundred and twenty" in some dialects.
Maybe that's how 14 and 12 are written in Greek.