Chemistry Q

[Leshy]

On another forum, there's a small debate going about recent spots discovered on Jupiter. The theory that Galilei (IIRC), the probe recently sent to crash into Jupiter by NASA, has caused these spots apparently came peeping up. They claim that the Plutonium used as a power source by Galilei could've caused a nuclear explosion.

Now, disregarding the fact that these spots are a tad large to be caused by even a nuclear detonation of a pretty small probe, this would be impossible, due to the fact that the Plutonium used on Galilei is Pu-238, which doesn't cause a nuclear explosion, unlike Pu-239 (and up, iirc). Now those conspiracy theorists are claiming that since the Plutonium is apparently encased in a Uranium-234 housing, the decay of that housing coupled with the length of time the probe has been out there, may have caused a portion of the Pu-238 to turn into Pu-239, thus allowing the probe to cause a nuclear explosion due to pressure increasing by the thing descending into Jupiter.

Now unless I'm very mistaken, U-234 only has alpha decay, so no free neutrons are emitted, hence their idea is completely unfounded. And coupled with a halflife of 250k years (which would mean that only 0,01% of the U-234 would have decayed at best) it'd mean that even if somehow it managed to do that, the thing still would be very subcritical and not detonate.

It's been a good while since I've had chemistry. Am I right?

Nah, there is no oxygen in the air on jupiter so this has created a chain reaction in activating chemical reactions on jupiter.

E.g. when you expose pure lithium to air or water on earth .

The space craft carries oxygen as its fuel.

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by Dreadnought

there is no oxygen in the air on jupiter

The space craft carries oxygen as its fuel.

Even then, I doubt it would be able to create the fairly large spots that were detected. It can't have carrying much of anything, considering it was a relatively small probe.

[Structural Integrity]

The probe woke the aliens that made the spots. No chemistry involved.

[Leshy]

Yeah, yeah, I don't really care about the spots.

I want to know if I'm right on the whole Plutonium/Uranium thing.

[mbushell]

oh sorry its my bad, my huge **** accidently poked a hole through

[acropolis]

Originally Posted by Leshy

On another forum, there's a small debate going about recent spots discovered on Jupiter. The theory that Galilei (IIRC), the probe recently sent to crash into Jupiter by NASA, has caused these spots apparently came peeping up. They claim that the Plutonium used as a power source by Galilei could've caused a nuclear explosion.

Now, disregarding the fact that these spots are a tad large to be caused by even a nuclear detonation of a pretty small probe, this would be impossible, due to the fact that the Plutonium used on Galilei is Pu-238, which doesn't cause a nuclear explosion, unlike Pu-239 (and up, iirc). Now those conspiracy theorists are claiming that since the Plutonium is apparently encased in a Uranium-234 housing, the decay of that housing coupled with the length of time the probe has been out there, may have caused a portion of the Pu-238 to turn into Pu-239, thus allowing the probe to cause a nuclear explosion due to pressure increasing by the thing descending into Jupiter.

Now unless I'm very mistaken, U-234 only has alpha decay, so no free neutrons are emitted, hence their idea is completely unfounded. And coupled with a halflife of 250k years (which would mean that only 0,01% of the U-234 would have decayed at best) it'd mean that even if somehow it managed to do that, the thing still would be very subcritical and not detonate.

It's been a good while since I've had chemistry. Am I right?

that's not a chemistry question

[G_frog]

Pu-238 decays to U-234 doesn't it?

Pu-239 is produced from uranium in nuclear reactors, not as a normal decay product.

it's Pu-239 that is used in nuclear bombs.

etc.

can't you just google?

[MrL_JaKiri]

I support the above two posts.

[roadrunner_0]

you are right

[Leshy]

Originally Posted by acropolis

that's not a chemistry question

Actually, you're right. Stuff about atoms, protons and neutrons makes me think of Chemistry class, but this is Physics. My bad.

Originally Posted by G_frog

can't you just google?

Well, a good portion of what I wrote was aided by facts found on Google. However, I wasn't sure if I was missing anything, and if I was interpreting what I found correctly.