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Low-Background Steel

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Re: Low-Background Steel

#21

Post by kalium-xyz »

xattt wrote: post #6
Cerium wrote: post #3

This comes up on HN every now and then, it is how I learned about low background steel. If this is new to you, you may also enjoy reading about the cesium content of wine: https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/07/19/141390/fukushima...

Is there a particular trigger for this post? Is this a case of someone stumbling into the concept and wanting to share it with the world? Is there some trend in SV around low-background steel right now? Genuinely curious about the phenomenon of posts around topics that have a great deal of understanding and aren’t necessarily trending in the general news cycle.

One of the latest xkcd comics mentioned low background steel. I assume that is the reason

Re: Low-Background Steel

#22

Post by marcosdumay »

triceratops wrote: post #15
crispyporkbites wrote: post #4

Im always curious how we will send messages to future civilizations. How will we ensure we’ll be remembered or even noted in 10,000, 100,000, 1 million years? How can we prevent the same disaster(s) that eventually wipes our civilisation out from repeating again in future intelligent generations (human or otherwise) Could environmental markers like these be the way? After all, it’s how we look at the past today

Our plastic is going to be around far longer than us. Left by itself plastic decays on geological timelines.[1] 1. http://worldwithoutus.com/excerpt.html

If by "stay" you mean spread microplatisc, that carries no information, then maybe. The jury is still out, but it looks like it'll last a long time.

But plastic is not a good candidate to hold messages for a long time. It degrades in a few years into some unusable stuff. Glass is a much better candidate.

Re: Low-Background Steel

#24

Post by ChuckMcM »

goatsi wrote: post #5

Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that needs hundreds of years to decay. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-d...

And here https://physicsworld.com/a/ancient-romans-join-neutrino-hunt...

I had some low radiation lead for a while, makes for an interesting curio. As I recall its providence was re-melted musket balls from a shipwreck in the Bahamas.

Re: Low-Background Steel

#25

Post by timeinput »

xattt wrote: post #6
Cerium wrote: post #3

This comes up on HN every now and then, it is how I learned about low background steel. If this is new to you, you may also enjoy reading about the cesium content of wine: https://www.technologyreview.com/2018/07/19/141390/fukushima...

Is there a particular trigger for this post? Is this a case of someone stumbling into the concept and wanting to share it with the world? Is there some trend in SV around low-background steel right now? Genuinely curious about the phenomenon of posts around topics that have a great deal of understanding and aren’t necessarily trending in the general news cycle.

It could be as simple as OP being one of [today's lucky 10,000](https://xkcd.com/1053/).

Re: Low-Background Steel

#26

Post by Natsu »

goatsi wrote: post #5

Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that needs hundreds of years to decay. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-d...

It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time?

Also, it makes me wonder why someone enterprising hasn't stockpiled a few tons of the stuff somewhere to let it become low background lead for the future. You'd think that some government or another would be able to drop a million dollars on putting a lead stockpile somewhere safe for the future.

Re: Low-Background Steel

#27

Post by shagie »

crispyporkbites wrote: post #4

Im always curious how we will send messages to future civilizations. How will we ensure we’ll be remembered or even noted in 10,000, 100,000, 1 million years? How can we prevent the same disaster(s) that eventually wipes our civilisation out from repeating again in future intelligent generations (human or otherwise) Could environmental markers like these be the way? After all, it’s how we look at the past today

Deep Time: How Humanity Communicates Across Millennia Paperback by Gregory Benford explores some of those questions. It comes into practical questions when trying to mark nuclear waste dumps.

Re: Low-Background Steel

#28

Post by [deleted] »

Natsu wrote: post #26
goatsi wrote: post #5

Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that needs hundreds of years to decay. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-d...

It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Also, it makes me wonder why someone enterprising hasn't stockpiled a few tons of the stuff somewhere to let it become low background lead for the future. You'd think that some government or another would be able to drop a million dollars on putting a lead stockpile somewhere safe for t…

[deleted]

Re: Low-Background Steel

#29

Post by toast0 »

Natsu wrote: post #26
goatsi wrote: post #5

Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that needs hundreds of years to decay. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-d...

It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Also, it makes me wonder why someone enterprising hasn't stockpiled a few tons of the stuff somewhere to let it become low background lead for the future. You'd think that some government or another would be able to drop a million dollars on putting a lead stockpile somewhere safe for t…

> It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time?

Looking into this a bit, it seems that the radiation in refined lead isn't coming from the lead ore, but from the other materials used in the smelting process. Old lead would have had time for all those things to decay.

Re: Low-Background Steel

#30

Post by mmaunder »

w0mbat wrote: post #8

The scene of the battle of Midway would also hold a hoard of nice steel (the Japanese lost a lot of ships including aircraft carriers). I understand that Scapa Flow has been heavily salvaged with only 7 out of 52 ships still down there.

Probably too close to the Pacific Proving Grounds.
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