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Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that

by goatsi 6y ago

Low-background lead is also sought after in shipwrecks [0]. With lead it isn't contamination from nuclear tests that's the issue, but natural radioactivity that needs hundreds of years to decay. [0] https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-dark-matter-depends-ancient-shipwrecks/600718/ https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/10/search-d...

ChuckMcM 6y ago
And here https://physicsworld.com/a/ancient-romans-join-neutrino-hunt/ https://physicsworld.com/a/ancient-romans-join-neutrino-hunt... I had some low radiation lead for a while, makes for an interesting curio. As I recall its providence was re-melted musket balls from a shipwreck in the Bahamas.
- pengaru 6y ago
  nit: provenance
  - ChuckMcM 6y ago
    Yeah :-) I kept it as a neat hack for selling lead from a shipwreck that had paid for itself by selling off the gold and other bits, and the salvage operator was effectively eeking out a few more bucks from the geek crowd :-).
Natsu 6y ago
It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Also, it makes me wonder why someone enterprising hasn't stockpiled a few tons of the stuff somewhere to let it become low background lead for the future. You'd think that some government or another would be able to drop a million dollars on putting a lead stockpile somewhere safe for the future.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- toast0 6y ago
  > It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Looking into this a bit, it seems that the radiation in refined lead isn't coming from the lead ore, but from the other materials used in the smelting process. Old lead would have had time for all those things to decay.
  - oh_sigh 6y ago
    I wonder why manufacturers don't just use filtered atmospheric air in the process to create low-background steel, if it is infact valuable.
    - saagarjha 6y ago
      Not valuable enough to bother.
      - nix23 6y ago
        So salvage it from sunken ships is cheaper then?
        DonHopkins 6y ago
        Just cheaper for whoever salvages the ship -- somebody else had to pay for the sunken cost of building and sinking the ship.
        rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
        > sunken cost Nice.
        nix23 6y ago
        > somebody else had to pay for the sunken cost of building and sinking the ship Na remember it was war, so all the money went back to the economy :/
rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
Relevant xkcd: https://m.xkcd.com/2321/ https://m.xkcd.com/2321/

by goatsi 6y ago

ChuckMcM 6y ago

And here https://physicsworld.com/a/ancient-romans-join-neutrino-hunt/ https://physicsworld.com/a/ancient-romans-join-neutrino-hunt... I had some low radiation lead for a while, makes for an interesting curio. As I recall its providence was re-melted musket balls from a shipwreck in the Bahamas.

pengaru 6y ago
nit: provenance
- ChuckMcM 6y ago
  Yeah :-) I kept it as a neat hack for selling lead from a shipwreck that had paid for itself by selling off the gold and other bits, and the salvage operator was effectively eeking out a few more bucks from the geek crowd :-).

Natsu 6y ago

It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Also, it makes me wonder why someone enterprising hasn't stockpiled a few tons of the stuff somewhere to let it become low background lead for the future. You'd think that some government or another would be able to drop a million dollars on putting a lead stockpile somewhere safe for the future.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
toast0 6y ago
> It's always confused me how mined lead somehow has more radioactivity. Shouldn't the lead in the ground also have decayed over time? Looking into this a bit, it seems that the radiation in refined lead isn't coming from the lead ore, but from the other materials used in the smelting process. Old lead would have had time for all those things to decay.
- oh_sigh 6y ago
  I wonder why manufacturers don't just use filtered atmospheric air in the process to create low-background steel, if it is infact valuable.
  - saagarjha 6y ago
    Not valuable enough to bother.
    - nix23 6y ago
      So salvage it from sunken ships is cheaper then?
      - DonHopkins 6y ago
        Just cheaper for whoever salvages the ship -- somebody else had to pay for the sunken cost of building and sinking the ship.
        rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago
        > sunken cost Nice.
        nix23 6y ago
        > somebody else had to pay for the sunken cost of building and sinking the ship Na remember it was war, so all the money went back to the economy :/

rrrrrrrrrrrryan 6y ago

Relevant xkcd: https://m.xkcd.com/2321/ https://m.xkcd.com/2321/