Mike shot

It is possible to prepare very heavy elements in thermonuclear explosions, owing to the very intense, although brief (order of a microsecond), neutron flux furnished by the explosion (3,13). Einsteinium and fermium were first produced in this way they were discovered in the fallout materials from the first thermonuclear explosion (the "Mike" shot) staged in the Pacific in November 1952. It is possible that elements having atomic numbers greater than 100 would have been found had the debris been examined very soon after the explosion. The preparative process involved is multiple neutron capture in the uranium in the device, which is followed by a sequence of beta decays. Eor example, the synthesis of EM in the Mike explosion was via the production of from followed by a long chain of short-Hved beta decays,... 

Teller contrived nevertheless to follow the progress of the test. He stationed himself at a seismograph in a basement room of the Berkeley geology building. Herbert York, acting director at Livermore, timed a shortwave radio to the frequency of the Mike shot telemetry. When the shot was fired he called Teller in Berkeley. The two physicists had calculated the time a seismic wave from a successful shot would require to travel under the Pacific basin to northern California— about fifteen minutes. Teller remembers ... 

The Mike shot. Its fireball expanded to a diameter of 3 miles. 

Mike Well, I made all of the indoles on the project. Curt s scheme wouldn t have worked to get them because they would have disintegrated in the deprotection step, so we needed a different scheme. I proposed the scheme because I thought it would be a cool way to make the compounds. Not much is known about that type of coupling reaction but I thought it was worth a shot. I love coming up with new reactions. ... 

In the narrative, Poe gives a twist to folk humor since the scarabeus is no bugbear but a clue to Captain Kidd s cache. Whereas Mike Fink shot off a black s heel whenever he disliked its shape, it is Jupiter s task to flog his master when he happens to lose his mind, thereby also reversing the myth of Robinson Crusoe and Friday. 

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