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A bit of Gamma Spec - Lutetium

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 1:09 pm
by Richard Hull
I attach images of this morning's work with a nice big chunk of Lutetium that I had in my element "petting zoo". I was reading through a book on the elements and one of the characteristics of lutetium metal was listed as non-radioactive!! I knew better! I grabbed my "table of the isotopes" and found that the entire element's two natural isotopes Lu 175 and Lu 176 are radioactive and, thus, decaying. I once thought Thorium had a long half life.

A number of the rare earth elements have isotopes with half lives spanning unbelievable spans of time in their decay. I still think Bismuth wins the half life battle with its single 100% isotope 209 of 19 quintillion years, (1 billion times the age of the entire universe).

I fired up the Canberra using my 3X3 bicron scintillation head and ran a gamma spec. It didn't take long.

See images and click to enlarge.

Richard Hull

Re: A bit of Gamma Spec - Lutetium

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:42 pm
by John Futter
Richard
LYSO scintillators of course have luticium in them makes a conienient check source built in

Re: A bit of Gamma Spec - Lutetium

Posted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 11:57 pm
by Richard Hull
What's in a name or a spelling?

The U.S. metals markets still use Columbium for Niobium, just at the Germans used Welsbach's original name Cassiopium for Lutetium into the 1950's. The old spelling was Lutecium. However, it is now officially spelled lutetium, but still pronounced as if it had the "c" in it.

Many false sightings of Technicium had many names, and as late as the 1930's, the early CRC style handbook had it as Virginium, but noted issues with its veracity.

Mendeleev used the term eka-xxxx in front of a homolog hole in his early periodic table. The periodic table itself has changed form and ordering many times over the years and is still changing.

Element number one in the GE catalog of isotopes is the neutron - radioactive, half-life of ~10.8 minutes, beta decaying to protium, hydrogen if on earth. (Thermalized protons, drifting about, steal electrons instantly here on earth)

Richard Hull