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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Science and Technology => Topic started by: Cymric on April 15, 2005, 10:16:58 AM
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This article should appeal to anyone with an interest in chemistry and quantum mechanics: apparently you can make clusters of atoms which behave like 'new' and bigger atoms dubbed superatoms. I found the article (http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18624951.800) interesting reading. Enjoy!
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Woo, just what I need after a wee sabatical from the site. Looks interesting indeed!
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Fascinating....
Any connection with pentaquarks, you think?
(i mean the `collective` qualities)
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At a glance it seems to me that it is simply an extension of the basic molecular orbital. On the extreme scale, eg metallic aluminium, you simply end up with a conduction band there are so many overlapping orbitals.
As you reduce the number of atoms down towards 1, the orbitals become better and better defined. That on some scale you end up with a configuration like that of an atom (whilst still having several nuclei) doesn't totally shock me.
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Possible applications:
1. Uranium replacement as nuclear reactor fuel.
The superatoms on the waste material can be splitted into original atoms.
2. Replacement: gold in electronics, aeronotics etc.
3. Replacement: lead / Pb (radiation shield, ammunition)
4. New strong, lightweight materials for spaceship, tanks.
Is the above idea possible?
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1) Well, not quite. because a superatom's valence is akin to that of atoms different to itself, it takes on different chemical properties, though not necessarity different material properties.
Quite aside for its radioctivity, Plutonium is chemically one of the most toxic substances known to man. A superatom of another element might duplicate that, without being radioactive, but it wouldn't be useful for a reactor.
What makes a nuclear fuel desirable is the energy latent in it. Unfortunately, that energy is released when its nucleii break apart into smaller ones, which radiate away from the point of separation.
2) Now, a superatom that behaves electrically like gold sounds more feasible. Whether it would be less expensive is something to be determined. The more we research it, the less it should cost to produce.
3) Hmm. What we're looking for here is density, and superatoms of anything have multiple nucleii per atom, so it would be more dense. This definately seems like something worthwhile. Sheilding perhaps even more dense than lead, with different chemical properties from lead, so it isn't environmentally hazardous.
Here's a question, though: how stable are superatoms? If some normal atoms break apart when bombarded with radiation, might not many superatoms?
Oh, that's what you meant by substitutes for Uranium. Hmm. Wouldn't it take as much energy to produce as you get from it? It might still make a better battery, though, in terms of power to mass ratios...
4) New light weight materials seem unlikely, though, given the reasons mentioned above.
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asian1 wrote:
Possible applications:
1. Uranium replacement as nuclear reactor fuel.
The superatoms on the waste material can be splitted into original atoms.
Is the above idea possible?
Nope, Nuclear fuel is a "nuclear" (a feature of the nucleus) effect, superatoms are an "electronic" (feature of the electrons) effect.