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Gold is a rare, odd-numbered atom with 79 protons. Common atoms have an even number of protons.Here is something for science buffs. Where did gold come from?
Robert Krulwich of NPR asks this question apropos Valentine's Day and receives a long answer.
Ever since taking earth science courses in college I have been fascinated by the fusion processes in distant stars that produce different elements. This gold story explains why gold is so rare, as rare as a good education.
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On a housekeeping note: The Recent Comments feature is frozen in time. I am addicted to my daily dose of comments, and am suffering from withdrawal symptoms. I find it relaxing to come home from an exhausting day of teaching and read the latest posts and comments. Maybe it's time to add the Haloscan feature which can display a longer list of comments. Techies?
6 comments:
One of the best non-fiction books I ever read was "The Magic Furnace: The search for the origins of Atoms"
The review at Amazon does not do this book justice. It is lively and entertaining, written for the person with only a high school background in the subject matter. You get the history of chemistry and astrophysics all rolled up in one.
http://www.amazon.com/Magic-Furnace-Search-Origins-Atoms/dp/0195143051/sr=1-1/qid=1171726801/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/104-7936660-5830314?ie=UTF8&s=books
Don't know what's up with the frozen comments but this comment widget does support displaying more widgets. I'd say ten is a good number.
If you like geeky books that are extremely well written and fascinating to read, try Robert Kaplan's The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero. I picked it up at a friend's house while we were waiting for dinner, and couldn't put it down (I had to borrow it so I could take it home and read it). It's more of a history book than a math book.
What happened to the Recent Comments???
very bizarre
I was hoping all I needed to do was reboot.
Apparently not.
Common atoms have an even number of protons.
Huh? This is true because most of the universe is Hydrogen (atomic number of 1), but according to Wikipedia the top atoms are (atomic number in parens):
H odd (1)
He even (2)
O even (8)
C even (6)
Ne even (10)
Fe even (26)
N odd (7)
Si even (14)
I get 6 if the top 8 as even.
Am I missing something?
-Mark R.
"Am I missing something?"
Actually, there is a word missing in the sentence. It should say: Most...
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