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Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#51

Post by leonidasrup »

SecretDreams wrote: post #38
nkrisc wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With the influence of humans: artificial. Without the influence of humans: natural. There’s a useful definition for you. Otherwise according to your definition the term “natural” is completely meaningless and serves no purpose.

All natural nuclear weapons has a nice ring to it ~ the OP.

"As strange as it seems now, the notion of “clean” nuclear weapons was taken fairly seriously in the late 1950s and early 1960s. U.S. government officials had been interested in the possibility of such nuclear weapons, which they believed would produce far less radioactive fallout than standard “dirty” thermonuclear weapons."

https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2017-0...

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#52

Post by shagie »

shever73 wrote: post #43
gapan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the sibling comment already said "kai" (pronounced ke like in keg) just means "and". So it literally means 4 and 10 sides in greek. But I have often seen it written as τετραδεκάεδρο (tetradecahedron) in greek as well, so without the kai part. I'm not sure why it is 4 and 10 instead of 14 though. It would be more natural in greek that way (δεκατετράεδρο - decatetrahedron). Maybe it is for putting the distinctive pa…

I think the three-and-ten, four-and-ten way of expressing numbers is primarily an ancient Greek thing. The modern numbers are expressed differently (δεκατέσσερα / dekatessara for fourteen, for example). In a lot of older European languages 11 and 12 behaved irregularly. You could argue that they do in English too (we don't have oneteen and twoteen). I haven't read of any particular reason for this, but I'd posit that…

French has some weirdness to its counting. 11 - 16 is specific words, 17 - 19 is "ten {number}" (dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf).

There's also some fun when you get to 70... which is soixante-dix (sixty ten)... and 80 which is quatre-vingts (four twenties)... and 90 as quatre-vingt-dix (four twenties ten).

Some dialects of French outside of France have changed how they count.

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#53

Post by onlypassingthru »

shever73 wrote: post #43
gapan wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the sibling comment already said "kai" (pronounced ke like in keg) just means "and". So it literally means 4 and 10 sides in greek. But I have often seen it written as τετραδεκάεδρο (tetradecahedron) in greek as well, so without the kai part. I'm not sure why it is 4 and 10 instead of 14 though. It would be more natural in greek that way (δεκατετράεδρο - decatetrahedron). Maybe it is for putting the distinctive pa…

I think the three-and-ten, four-and-ten way of expressing numbers is primarily an ancient Greek thing. The modern numbers are expressed differently (δεκατέσσερα / dekatessara for fourteen, for example). In a lot of older European languages 11 and 12 behaved irregularly. You could argue that they do in English too (we don't have oneteen and twoteen). I haven't read of any particular reason for this, but I'd posit that…

>we don't have oneteen and twoteen

But we do have duodecim, aka dozen. So we just need to add "onezen" to the current vernacular to make the set complete. Let's go team onezen!

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#54

Post by CodeArtisan »

kleiba2 wrote: post #3

Sounds like the plot of a B movie...

The video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R is happening in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, an area filled with super natural anomalies and artifacts due to the radiation. A legend/rumor says that there is a special crystal granting any wish at the center of the zone, inside the power plant's sarcophagus. The existence of the crystal can't be verified because a cultist faction, The monolith, is preventing anyone to reach the center.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.T.A.L.K.E.R.:_Shadow_of_Cher...

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#55

Post by Rover222 »

dmurray wrote: post #10

What 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?

"also in the Nevada desert" - huh? The first test was in NM. Probably irrelevant to your point, but...

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#56

Post by dylan604 »

shagie wrote: post #52
shever73 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the three-and-ten, four-and-ten way of expressing numbers is primarily an ancient Greek thing. The modern numbers are expressed differently (δεκατέσσερα / dekatessara for fourteen, for example). In a lot of older European languages 11 and 12 behaved irregularly. You could argue that they do in English too (we don't have oneteen and twoteen). I haven't read of any particular reason for this, but I'd posit that…

French has some weirdness to its counting. 11 - 16 is specific words, 17 - 19 is "ten {number}" (dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf). There's also some fun when you get to 70... which is soixante-dix (sixty ten)... and 80 which is quatre-vingts (four twenties)... and 90 as quatre-vingt-dix (four twenties ten). Some dialects of French outside of France have changed how they count.

With Spanish being similar with distinct words for 11-15 with 16-19 being 10+number. Taking Spanish in high school made me consider that for the first time while never having thought about 11,12 being similar in English until that same thought process.

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#57

Post by dylan604 »

autoexec wrote: post #23
Towaway69 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

> when we grow them in a lab they aren't often considered to be "naturally formed"

Isn't this solely because De Beers wants to keep the product of their mines artificially priced higher? So they come up with phrases to make lab grown diamonds sound less than the ones they mine?

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#58

Post by dylan604 »

4gotunameagain wrote: post #19
Towaway69 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

This is a valid argument, albeit a pointless one. We use the term natural specifically to distinguish between the.. natural and artificial. A term like that is necessary.

A similar one is synthetic. We've used that label for things like synthetic oil, but there are a lot of other things that are synthesized because it is too difficult to get the material naturally.

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#59

Post by toast0 »

leonidasrup wrote: post #51
SecretDreams wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All natural nuclear weapons has a nice ring to it ~ the OP.

"As strange as it seems now, the notion of “clean” nuclear weapons was taken fairly seriously in the late 1950s and early 1960s. U.S. government officials had been interested in the possibility of such nuclear weapons, which they believed would produce far less radioactive fallout than standard “dirty” thermonuclear weapons." https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/nuclear-vault/2017-0...

It doesn't seem that strange?

You can drastically change the amount of fallout with materials and design decisions, so it's worth considering.

For example, tsar bomba was tested with a lead tamper instead of uranium; this reduced the yield, but also the fallout. The Ripple design has no tamper, was used in the last US airdrop test, and produces very little fallout compared to other designs.

A limited fallout design allows for occupation and/or resettlement after an attack, so it seems useful to consider.

Yes, yes, it didn't make a practical difference because MAD makes them all unusable.

Re: Strange crystals found inside wreckage from the first nuclear bomb test

#60

Post by conductr »

nkrisc wrote: post #36
Towaway69 wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

With the influence of humans: artificial. Without the influence of humans: natural. There’s a useful definition for you. Otherwise according to your definition the term “natural” is completely meaningless and serves no purpose.

Here I have been thinking all these freeways and strip mall suburbs are organic growth of older cities. You mean a person designed this hellscape?? /s
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