HOWTO Build a Nuclear Device

Tim May tcmay at got.net
Fri Nov 16 23:56:00 PST 2001


On Friday, November 16, 2001, at 10:43 PM, baptista at pccf.net wrote:

> On Fri, 16 Nov 2001, Tim May wrote:
>
>> Gold is malleable AND is denser than steel.
>>
>> Uranium is NOT malleable AND is denser than steel.
>
> Incorrect.  Uranium is an actinide series element.  It is a hard silver
> almost white substance which is both malleable and ductile.  Of course
> this does not imply you should use it as a replacement for duck
> tape.  Also like gold it has a luster when polished.


  Uranium is not malleable in the same way either gold or silver are.

Nearly all metals are malleable to some extent (in that they don't 
shatter when subjected to shear forces), but I was responding to your 
"beat the metal in a stainless steel bowl" idea. Good luck on beat U 
this way!

A chart of the rigidity moduli for the elements gives a good idea of why 
U is not normally considered very malleable:

http://www.webelements.com/webelements/properties/text/image-
intensity/rigidity-modulus.html

Also, I don't get what you mean by saying it has a luster when polished. 
Yeah, all metals do..until they oxidize/tarnish/anodize.

The chunks of uranium I used to work with were pure metallic...and dark 
grey/black.


>
--Tim May
"Stupidity is not a sin, the victim can't help being stupid.  But 
stupidity is the only universal crime;  the sentence is death, there is 
no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity." 
--Robert A. Heinlein





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