Later mid-morning. Breakfast and chores done. Last night you read on Fritzsch’s “Equation” book, pages 177 – 221 and discovered, among other things, that “mass is frozen energy”. You like the turn of the phrase as much as anything else, and it seems as a value though you don’t know why. You had read about heavy hydrogen in other works that focused on the Manhattan Project.
Supposedly my father, Richard Bookman Orndorff, worked at Oak Ridge for a few weeks during the Project. (Normally he was at the Joliet Army Ammunition Arsenal near Chicago) As a metallurgist he thought the Oak Ridge project was focusing on metals to be used in the development of secret jet engines. Later, of course, he found that was not the case. He was eventually listed in the Engineer Corp and after rebuilding bridges helped liberate Dachau. After the war, Dad (as a chemist in those days) spoke German, and he helped filter German scientists to the United States. Several times we had German families for dinner when they first arrived even in early the early fifties. He did work on the North America P-86 Sabre jet and the F-86F used in the Korean War at North American-Rockwell in Columbus, Ohio. From there to OSU Research Labs. I remember seeing a stationary small jet engine housed in a warehouse somewhere on the outskirts of OSU’s west campus. I was there for an actually demonstration. I always thought such events were really neat in my preteen years. Chemical labs at OSU and all that equipment, plus Dad would talk about the properties of U-238 at times. He even brought home a Geiger counter from time to time. Very enjoyable toy for a growing boy. Great for the imagination. Anyway, I still hold a personal interest in the Manhattan Project, and later this Spring we are going to visit Trinity Site in New Mexico for ourselves.
What I was surprised to learn was about a natural occurring nuclear reaction in Oklo, West Africa. This is cool: The character Haller is talking:
“. . . I should point out that the first reactor on our planet was constructed not by humans but by nature. Years ago a remarkable concentration of a particular uranium isotope was found in uranium deposits in Oklo, in the West African country of Gabon. The only explanation for this strange phenomenon was that the uranium concentration was the remnant of a natural nuclear reactor. Experts calculated that 1.8 billion years ago a nuclear chain reaction must have occurred in this location that was sustained for as long as a billion years. It was even possible to study the remains of this natural reactor for the purpose of investigating how nuclear waste decays. What is also interesting is that this reactor appears to have been steered automatically – it never exploded.” (page 214-215)
This is really remarkable, a natural nuclear reaction. Who would have thought?
Sometimes you get a bit carried away, orndorff, but your passion is real nevertheless. – Post. – Amorella.
This is exciting stuff, Amorella. This has brought up a lot of reminders of pre-teen and teen life that I don’t often think about and have never put down in such a way. I like it, just like I am looking forward to seeing Trinity Site. I know there won’t be much there, but think of all the scientists who have worked and otherwise visited the site. In some ways I am reminded of seeing Galileo’s telescope in the science museum in Florence a couple of years ago. Such a cool event. It was almost as good as holding FDR’s cane when visiting Warm Springs, Georgia some years ago and riding a section of the old Roman road from London to Canterbury. The past energizes my spirit in a more personal way. It makes living more fun. It is like I am living more than one lifetime along the way.
Just post, orndorff.
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