Thursday, October 07, 2004

Transmutation

A well-known anecdote has it that in 1901, Fred Soddy (an Oxonian physicist) had just observed the conversion of thorium to radium by alpha-emission. "Transmutation!" he exclaimed; his better-known colleague Rutherford growled back, "Don't call it transmutation. They'll have our heads off as alchemists."

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hmm... that explains why i feel so chewed up for such a long time! yes, jargon, motherhood statements - hate them or love them, they are all around and you are expected to regurgitate them at times. (at least that's how i feel!)

must say i enjoy reading your blogs esp the one about why you are a blogger :)
small girl

Thursday, October 07, 2004 4:53:00 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Here I am, Anonymous again.

Here's a good one-Spaceship Earth. Pop culture reference and global village pun all in one.

Alright, I never said it was good. And shouldn't it be possible to actually mass-produce gold using radiation to alter existing molecules? Theoretically it should be possible to use radioactive particles(possibly alpha?) to knock off neutrons and electrons and the like, altering the molecule's properties.

Of course, this would require large amounts of energy and time, resulting in one atom of gold. But it's still possible.

Thursday, October 07, 2004 9:41:00 pm  

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