Random Rants LXVIII: Burn it all to the ground and start over!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Nihilism for all ages, I see. :)
 
I'll add in the old links later. :p

Alternatively, burn them to the ground and start over.


This is the gritty reboot of the rants thread, it doesn't acknowledge the previous editions.
 
Rant: I wasn' given a 24 hour notice until half that time had passed. [pissed]
 
Rant: I wasn' given a 24 hour notice until half that time had passed. [pissed]

I only pointed out the rules when I noticed. I'm not sure that there's any rule against starting a new thread before a moderator notices.
 
No links? NO LINKS?!?!?!
Spoiler :
Random Rants
Random Rants Two
Random Rants 3
Random Rants 4: Keep Complaining
Random @#%& rants 5: Life is a female dog.
Random Rants VI: See, this is why we can't have nice things!
Random Rants VII: Why do they ALWAYS do that?!
Random Rantii VIII: When will Latin DIE?
Random Rants IX: I'm Mad As Hell, And I'm Not Gonna Take It Anymore!
Random Rants X: Mraarrrrrrr!!!!!!
Random Rants XI: This Title Actually Has Some Imagination
Random Rants XII: It's Alright To Cry
Random Rants XIII: I don't give a damn for the whole state of Michigan
Random Rants XIV: You're gonna love my nuts
Random Rants XV: Like a Fine Whine
Random Rants XVI: Whambulance Dispatch Center
Random Rants XVII: Rage Against The Machine
Random Rants XVIII: It's cold as hell!
Random Rants XIX: Failure Tactics
Random Rants XX: I CAN'T FIND MY FAGS!!!
RANDOM RANTS XXI: Relapse
RANDOM RANTS XXII: The Angry Dome
RANDOM RANTS 23: Christ, you know it ain't easy!
Random Rants #XXIV - The Angry Mob
RANDOM RANTS XXV: Put a Smile On
RANDOM RANTS XXVI: Those Damned Kids!
Random Rants XXVII: The Rent Is Too Damn High!
RANDOM RANTS XXVIII: Everything is Flammable
Random Rants XXIX: Watch your %*$@ Language!
RANDOM RANTS XXX: age-restricted
RANDOM RANTS XXXI: I hate my job
RANDOM RANTS XXXII: I'm In a Glass Case of Emotion!
RANDOM RANTS XXXIII: World, Y U make me fed up wit U?!!
Random Rants XXXIV: Severe Cussing and VERY Illegal Pony Fights
Random Rants XXXV: BANNED IN THE UK
Random Rants XXXVI: Can't Sleep, Clown Will Eat Me
Random Rants XXXVII: The Server Is Too Busy
Random Rants XXXVIII: First World Problems
Random Rants XXXIX: Coming up with a title is stressful
Random Rants XL: I'm having trouble growing my wood
Random Rants XLI: Life won't take the lemons back!
Random Rants XLII: The Four-Part Plan
Random Rants XLIII: So Much Whinging Your Head May Explode
Random Rants XLIV: I Can't Find The Answer
Random Rants XLV: Isn't This Just a Ray of Sunshine?
RANDOM RANTS XLVI: Slightly More Than a Month-ly Edition #1
Random Rants XLVII: I don't like food anymore!
Random Rants XLVIII: Worst. Thread Title. Ever!
Random Rants XLIX - IT CHAFES MY ARSE!!!
Random Rants Νʹ: Pissed tae th' gills
Random Rants LI- Hell hath no Fury, like a Woman Scorned
Random Rants ნბ: WE FORGOT THE ANAESTHETIC!
Random Rants LIII: F My Life
Random Rants LIV: I Took An Arrow In The Knee
Random Rants LV: The Joy of Ranting
Random Rants LVI: Raving Mad
Random Rants LVII: wow. many anger. very whining.
Random Rants LVIII: Wassamatta U... Ah Shaddap you face.
Random Rants ΝΘʹ: Someone is wrong on the Internet
Random Rants LX: I wish to register a complaint
Random Rants 61
Random Rants ΞΒʹ: Bloody hell!
Random Rants #63: These Rants Don't Run
Random Rants LXIV: Who's Acting Like a Child Now?
Random Rants ΞΕ': No, YOUR thread titles suck!
Random Rants LXVI: NO, **YOUR** THREAD TITLES SUCK!!
 
I bought 10 g of iridium metal powder from China for my neutron activation experiments. It was comparatively cheap (still expensive, but a good deal compared to e.g. gold: $170 for 10 g of the world's rarest metal, and I'll get to sell it back on ebay). But when it came, it made my Geiger counter go off pretty furiously without any activation at all. Looks like some there's some uranium or thorium contamination. And I couldn't even clean it up with aqua regia, although the fact that it didn't dissolve in aqua regia confirms that it is indeed iridium.

Despite the amazing cross-sections of both of its isotopes, it looks like I'll just have to sell it on ebay - I can't use it with this high of a background count, because my neutron source is very weak and statistical tests have to be done to make sure anything happened at all. Stupid cheapish Chinese iridium and its radioactive impurities. :(
 
On some levels, quite a few actually, I'm doing better than ever before but I'm feeling irritable & unfulfilled in general.
 
I bought 10 g of iridium metal powder from China for my neutron activation experiments. It was comparatively cheap (still expensive, but a good deal compared to e.g. gold: $170 for 10 g of the world's rarest metal, and I'll get to sell it back on ebay). But when it came, it made my Geiger counter go off pretty furiously without any activation at all. Looks like some there's some uranium or thorium contamination. And I couldn't even clean it up with aqua regia, although the fact that it didn't dissolve in aqua regia confirms that it is indeed iridium.

Despite the amazing cross-sections of both of its isotopes, it looks like I'll just have to sell it on ebay - I can't use it with this high of a background count, because my neutron source is very weak and statistical tests have to be done to make sure anything happened at all. Stupid cheapish Chinese iridium and its radioactive impurities. :(


How do you know that your sample hasn't already been exposed to a neutron source? It could already have significant active isotopes. That would explain why it won't clean up chemically.
 
How do you know that your sample hasn't already been exposed to a neutron source? It could already have significant active isotopes. That would explain why it won't clean up chemically.

You won't clean up chemically.

Also: It seems like buying something so sensitive is better done locally or at least domestically instead of purchasing it from China. Sure, it's cheaper, but they're not exactly known for their stellar product quality. I feel this becomes especially true when it's a material that has to be just right lest it be worthless to what you need it for.
 
That face when 8AM class is cancelled and the lecturer doesnt tell anyone.
 
What sort of experiments? Are you doing this for fun or for some sort of a project sanctioned by somebody else?

Just for fun. Did you know you can just buy polonium as an alpha-particle static eliminator? And then put beryllium on top and make a weak neutron source? :scan:

This reminds me that I made a thread in S&T about mad science and was going to detail some of my experiments there, but haven't gotten around to it yet. I'll write this one up in more detail there later.

How do you know that your sample hasn't already been exposed to a neutron source? It could already have significant active isotopes. That would explain why it won't clean up chemically.

I mean, it could have been, but I find it pretty unlikely. If so, it would have formed iridium-192 which has a half-life of something like 73 days. If it becomes measurably less radioactive over a couple of weeks, that would explain it. But it's probably thorium or uranium instead.

You won't clean up chemically.

Also: It seems like buying something so sensitive is better done locally or at least domestically instead of purchasing it from China. Sure, it's cheaper, but they're not exactly known for their stellar product quality. I feel this becomes especially true when it's a material that has to be just right lest it be worthless to what you need it for.

I had no idea that iridium was likely to come contaminated with radioactive stuff. I would have figured this for a rare-earth element (thorium and uranium are chemically similar and show up in the same ores) but iridium is one of the platinum group metals, which are hard to separate from each other but none of which are radioactive. Maybe some of it is obtained as a byproduct of uranium mining or something instead. :dunno:
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom