this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2025
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Science Memes

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[–] quediuspayu@lemmy.dbzer0.com 54 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Put that chunk of uranium on a scale and you have a 700 milion year calendar

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 28 points 11 months ago

Thanks but i find an annual calendar already pretty overwhelming

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 39 points 11 months ago (4 children)

GOD DAMNIT! Who touched my Uranium-235?? I left it RIGHT HERE where this lead is.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Hey where did my thorium 231 go?

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

hey where did my francium go

[–] SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 6 points 11 months ago

Just eat the lead to make all the worries disappear

[–] xx3rawr@sh.itjust.works 5 points 11 months ago

Somebody touch-a my U235

Whose responsible this?!?!

[–] skisnow@lemmy.ca 33 points 11 months ago

Who measures uranium in pounds? I feel like if you're not using metric you probably shouldn't be handling uranium.

[–] notabot@piefed.social 31 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Woahhh. That's heavy maaannn.

[–] Iron_Lynx@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago (2 children)

So I ran the numbers. U-235 decays into Pb-207, which means about 12% of its mass is radiated away in alpha decay. Which sounds like a fuckton.

Also, it'll mean that that chunk of lead will be a touch heavier, at 13.2 lbs

The Maths:U-235 decays into Pb-207. To three significant digits, 207/235 = 0.881, equivalent to 88.1%, meaning 11.9% is radiated away.
88.1% of 15 lbs = 13.2 lbs.

[–] ryannathans@aussie.zone 13 points 11 months ago

And that's ignoring spontaneous fission which is probably happening to some extent to some of the isotopes

[–] cryoistalline@lemmy.ml 16 points 11 months ago (1 children)

u-235 has a half life of 704 million years. only half of it would have decayed.

[–] Zuriz@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 months ago

1 hour here is 7 years on earth .jpg

[–] ChicoSuave@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

So a chunk of lead today could have been pre-cambrian uranium?

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 11 months ago

A little older, with a ~700 million year half life and about ten half lives to be practically completely converted you're looking for 7 billion years ago

[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Reminds me of my ingot of invar. Every few years I try to think of something to do with it, but still haven't come up with anything.

[–] zorblitz@mander.xyz 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] jawa22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invar

In short, it is an alloy that experiences almost zero thermal expansion or contraction.

[–] zorblitz@mander.xyz 1 points 11 months ago

And I thought it was some deez nuts joke that I wasn't aware of

[–] klemptor@startrek.website 4 points 11 months ago

Awww greyhound snoot 😍