On Mar 6, 11:30*pm, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Dean wrote:
On Mar 5, 4:25*pm, Brad Guth wrote:
On Mar 5, 1:09*pm, Dean wrote:

Perhaps Brad would care to rub his hands over a plutonium sphere and
see if it has any ill effects on him.

A brief exposure isn't lethal or even all that problematic, as long as
you don't ingest any of it. It sure as hell isn't going to explode,
although it could be warm or even hot to the touch if there's enough
product density and mass to work with.

For example, use as a hollow but otherwise regulation mass (7.2 kg)
bowling ball would be doable, though I sure as hell wouldn't care to
sleep with it.

Have you ever been around plutonium? *My guess is no.

He's actually right. *Pu isn't as dangerous as people seem to think.
The metal is pretty safe as long as *you don't do something silly like
light it on fire or grind and cut on it so that it produces dust that
you can inhale.

You can hold the stuff pretty much indefinitely, although I'd prefer
to be wearing latex gloves and have the Pu coated with mineral oil
just to make sure there's no dust or particles adhering to my hands
that I could transfer to my lungs.

It's amazing that even a Guthball can get something right once in a
while....

And before you ask, yes, I've been around the stuff.

--
"Insisting on perfect safety is for people who don't have the balls to
* * live in the real world."
* * * * * * * * * * * -- Mary Shafer, NASA Dryden

Well Fred, that's just it. Plutonium is very reactive and by itself
will oxidize readily from atmospheric air and moisture. Your hands
would do an even better job. And as it oxidizes, it spalls off those
tiny little particles of PuO2 that when inhaled will end up killing
you. Plutonium is nasty stuff. No one in their right minds would
consider handling it as our resident Guthball says.