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Eat lead (mander.xyz)
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[-] LilDumpy@lemmy.world 72 points 6 hours ago

Real question: Is the decay of uranium the only natural way to produce lead? If so TIL.

[-] expatriado@lemmy.world 100 points 6 hours ago
[-] 0ops@lemm.ee 1 points 42 minutes ago

Booooooo (jk lol)

[-] tdawg@lemmy.world 10 points 4 hours ago

Instructions unclear. Got diagnosed with lead poisoning

[-] GraniteM@lemmy.world 1 points 46 minutes ago

Instructions unclear. ~~Got~~ God diagnosed with lead poisoning

Well, that certainly explains the platypus!

[-] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 4 points 3 hours ago

That's what happens when you get a MBA

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 36 points 5 hours ago

Iron is the heaviest element capable of being created inside stars, via fusion. Once iron is fused, the star begins to rapidly collapse.

Elements heavier than iron (28) are the result of supernova explosions, which produce energies high enough to create these heavier atoms. It is further possible, as described in the image, for very heavy elements to decay into lighter more stable elements, those still being heavier than iron.

Lead is 82.

[-] alcoholicorn@lemmy.ml 25 points 5 hours ago

That's what I learned in school, but there's been some research since suggesting stars produces significant quantities of elements up to lead during their lifetimes, even though it's a net energy loss.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-process

[-] Nougat@fedia.io 1 points 2 hours ago

Interesting. Of note, this process would mainly be in a very specific kind of star, and still would depend on an iron "seed" leftover from a previous supernova. Technically, still requires a "regular" supernova.

[-] Gork@lemm.ee 29 points 5 hours ago

No. Nucleosynthesis of lead within stars generated from supernovae make up the bulk of the existing lead on Earth. Uranium decay does provide some additional lead inventory but would be fairly small in comparison.

But the presence of it in the first place within second generation stars proves that lead is billions of years old.

[-] Rooskie91@discuss.online 9 points 6 hours ago

When supernovas explode they're responsible for most exotic elements larger than iron. So it's either that or radioactive decay.

this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
589 points (92.4% liked)

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