[meteorite-list] CORRECTION to Slow cooling rate of irons in space

From: Sterling K. Webb <sterling_k_webb_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 2009 12:53:08 -0500
Message-ID: <693097702CDB462FBCC314BA4CA996A9_at_ATARIENGINE2>

Hi, List,

Aluminum 26 decays to Magnesium 26, of course,
not Al-27, impossibly uphill. Thanks to Piper Hollier
for pointing out that cerebral short circuit. Long
emails at one in the morning invite the attack of
the dreaded brain fart.

Aluminum-26 to Mg-26 has a halflife of 710,000
years so its decay is quick and intense. Hafnium-182
has a halflife of 9 million years. Also on the isotope list,
discovered (about 12) or suspected, are Beryllium-10
(1,500,000 years), plutonium-244 (80,000,000 years),
lead-205 (6,500,000), manganese-53 (3,700,000 years),
calcium-41 (103,000 years), as well as titanium-50,
nickel-62, zirconium-96, chlorine-36, samarium-can't
read-the-number, iodine-129, and palladium-107, (I got
too lazy to look up the halflifes after a while, too.)

If you can discover a trace of a short-lifer or its decay
products in a sealed package (like a meteorite or a
planet), it's almost certain they were present in quantity
at the beginning of the solar system.

Three explanations:

1.) the Sun and other local stars inherited this mix
from the molecular clouds they condensed from,

2.) they were injected by a nearby supernova or two,

3.) the short-lived isotopes were created by the intense
early radiation of the Sun in its own nebula.

You may chose any one, two, or all three explanations
and you will find those who agree with you and those who
disagree with you. The failure to find (yet) traces of
tin-120 and curium-247 argues against the very close
supernova source.


Sterling K. Webb
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sterling K. Webb" sterling_k_webb at sbcglobal.net
To: "Carl 's" carloselguapo1 at hotmail.com;
meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
Sent: Saturday, September 05, 2009 12:14 AM
Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Slow cooling rate of irons in space


Hi,

Carl raises a lot of interesting points with his
questions, some of them still unanswered. The
cooling question, for example. The problem is...

[rest of message omitted]
Received on Sat 05 Sep 2009 01:53:08 PM PDT