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Would you use uranium 235 or thorium 232 to date a sample that was about million years old?
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
Uranium dating is recommended.
Thorium dating (but with the isotope 230Th, not with the isotope 232Th) is recommended to minerals old of up to 500 000 years.
Wiki User
∙ 13y ago
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What chemical is similar to uranium?
I think the closest to uranium chemically is lanthanum, but you might want to check periodic table to be sure, it would be right above it.
What evidence would a scientist use to determine the absolute age of a fossil found in a sedimentary rock?
Uranium is the element that decays at a rate that relates to the sample. Uranium is the element that decays at a rate that relates to the sample.
Which isotope would you use the estimate something that was about 1 million years old?
The method of uranium-lead dating.
What is the decay element of uranium?
It is not yet discovered since all of the uranium isotopes are having half life for several millions of years. We would be able to find it after atleast 700 millions of years.
If a water sample contains 10 parts per million phosphorus how many grams of phosphorus would a liter contain?
10 milligrams
Where would you find actinium at in nature?
Actinium is found in uranium and thorium ores.
Where in nature would you find francium?
Francium exists in uranium and thorium ores.
Where would you find francium?
francium is found in thorium and uranium ores in the earth's crust obtained by the decay of actinium
Uranium-235 has a half life of?
The half-life is 700 million years !
Why would uranium be chosen as an alternative energy source?
Uranium had three advantages over other nuclear fuel, and several disadvantage. The potential other fuel was thorium. A comparison of the two systems includes:Uranium reactors are simpler than thorium reactorsThe byproducts of the uranium reaction (plutonium) can be used to make nuclear weapons.Uranium is rare and rapidly becomes a limited resource while thorium is common and virtually unlimited. The US had access to uranium through its own reserves and Canada.Thorium reactors "fail safe" if there is a problem, the nuclear reaction stops and the reactor becomes cold and inert. Uranium creates ongoing problems when they have an uncontrolled failure
What fuel is used in nuclear power plants?
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate, control, and sustain a nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear power is energy produced from controlled nuclear reactions. When it comes to just standard fuel across the table it would have to be: Plutonium, Uranium, and Thorium.
What chemical is similar to uranium?
I think the closest to uranium chemically is lanthanum, but you might want to check periodic table to be sure, it would be right above it.
What would happen if you shot a uranium bullet at a sample of plutonium?
If the sample of plutonium was the correct isotope and near it's critical mass (300g IIRC) then it would gain sufficient mass to go super critical and undergo fission. This is the principal with which the first ever nuclear weapons were detonated. However if you're firing at a smaller sample it's unlikely there would be anything other than a chemical reaction with the uranium igniting and forming uranium oxide.
What element will result if two protons and two neutrons are ejected from a uranium nucleus?
If two protons and two neutrons are removed from a uranium nucleus, the new element is thorium. The isotope cannot be determined because the identity of the uranium isotope was not given.
What evidence would a scientist use to determine the absolute age of a fossil found in a sedimentary rock?
Uranium is the element that decays at a rate that relates to the sample. Uranium is the element that decays at a rate that relates to the sample.
How many lbs in 1ppm?
PPM describes the amount of a substance in a sample. For example: If you have one million pounds of goo that is 1 part per million (PPM) GOLD, you would have one pound of gold in the million total pounds of goo. PPM is typically used to define how much of a pollutant is in a sample of air. If the sample was determined to be 6 ppm hydrocarbon in a sample, that would mean that of the million moles of the sample of air (the weight of the atoms that make up the sample) there would be 6 moles of the hydrocarbon specified, which, depending on the complexity of the hydrocarbon, could end up being one atom of the hydrocarbon in the sample.
What is thorium and how does it differ from other fuels used for nuclear power?
Thorium is a element, just as uranium is. The naturally occurring isotope is thorium-232, which can absorb a neutron to produce thorium-233. This undergoes rapid decay to produce protactinium-233, and then uranium-233. The uranium-233 is fertile. Since all this can happen within an atomic reactor, the net effect is that naturally occurring thorium, with a little help to get neutrons, can fuel atomic reactors. Thorium differs from other fuels in several important ways. First off, it is far more abundant than uranium, and it does not need to be enriched. This means it is potentially a less expensive fuel both in terms of price and in terms of effort and energy to bring into use at the reactor. Also, there are very real possibilities of thorium fuel rods being built that can simply replace the fuel rods of current reactors. Second, the uranium-233 has much more damaging radiation than the uranium-235. This is both good and bad. It is bad, because it means better shielding has to be used at the reactor, but this might not mean much at many reactors already in use. The good is that it reduces the likelihood of theft of radioactive waste for terrorist purposes, because it would very like kill anyone who attempted such a thing. Thorium also could be used in energy amplifiers or accelerator driven systems, which, if successful, might be able to reduce present nuclear wast to materials that are not particularly dangerous over the long term. If thorium is used in this way, there is probably enough of it to power the world at current demand levels for several thousand years, and the waste could be rendered relatively safe in the process. Research in this system is not moving very fast, possibly because there seems to be no incentive to do it in the United States. I am providing links below to articles on thorium and energy amplifiers.
