Subject: No Plutonium (was: Coffee or syrup: ...) From: lum@magnus.ircc.ohio-state.edu (J Columbus Johnson II) Date: 1991-04-25, 15:20 Newsgroups: alt.tv.twin-peaks In article <3107@maus.Morgan.COM> maus@Morgan.COM (Malcolm Austin) writes: > >In article <3463@beguine.UUCP> George.Harris@bbs.acs.unc.edu (George Harris) writes: >> >> >> >> I *still* think that metal block is plutonium. (:-]) > > > > I hold with those who fancy "another box". [W]ooden panels aren't > > ... strong enough to shield one from plutonium, and there are no > > indications that they were "lead-lined" or any other ... trick. > > Even if they were lead-lined, I think you'd need a significant > > thickness before you were safe from a hefty chunk of plutonium. No, definitely not plutonium. A critical mass of plutonium is about the size of an orange*, so a chunk of pure metal that size could not exist. Conceivably, it could be an alloy, but again, it would have to be alloyed with something very light (eg, beryllium) to be light enough to hold easily on one's fingertips; plutonium is heavier than lead. Also, there should be traces of greenish-yellowish oxide unless the boxes were airtight and filled with, say, nitrogen. The oxide alone would kill them, since it is highly toxic, by the familiar heavy metal poisoning effect. *See _The Curve of Binding Energy_ by John McPhee; the author converses with Ted Taylor about his design work, including amoung other things, a series of experiments intended to establish the size of the smallest possible nuclear device. The exact answer is still classified. -- Lum Johnson Yeah, yeah, ....