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From: George Huxtable (no email)
Date: Mon Nov 10 2003 - 13:52:23 EST
Jared Sherman said-
From physics and chemistry you can learn that there is some tritium in all
water, and tritium does glow, but if you could never see that emission in
normal seawater.
Response from George-
I wonder if Jared is thinking of Deuterium, the isotope of hydrogen that is
bonded into heavy water, which makes up a small part of all water. Tritium,
another isotope of Hydrogen, is unstable, decaying with a half-life of
about 12 years, which is one reason why those Hydrogen bombs need to be
"refurbished" at regular intervals. Small quantities of Tritium result from
cosmic ray bombardment, but because of this decay it does not accumulate to
any extent. Any Tritium content in the world's oceans would only be
present, in minute quantities, as a result of nuclear processing or testing
over recent years. It's hard to imagine such Tritium content emitting
enough light energy to cause a visible glow, under any circumstances.
Perhaps Jared can provide some references, rather than just "from physics
and chemistry".
Nor does Tritium, on its own, glow. Yes, many self-luminous light-sources
use Tritium to supply their energy, but the low-energy beta-particles that
Tritium emits generate light by ending up in a fluorescent screen, such as
Zinc Sulphide. There's no glow from the Tritium gas itself, as far as I
know.
I suggest, then, that Jared has raised a false trail.
George.
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contact George Huxtable by email at , by phone at
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