View allAll Photos Tagged knowledge
The story of Zircon Crystals and Earth's age in a Nutshell.
How tiny Zircon Crystals - Zirconium silicate (ZrSiO4) helped determine the age of the Earth (at approximately 4.5 Billion years old since the crust cooled), with Radiometric U-Pb (Uranium-Lead) dating.
Zircon Crystals trap Uranium Atoms in its crystal structure and naturally repel Lead Atoms when the crystal forms. Once the crystal structure is formed, nothing is able to escape. Over time the isotopes of Uranium start to transmutate into other elements in a process that is referred to as a decay chain.
An Uranium Atom first transmutates into a Thorium Atom (which takes a few billion years). Thorium is far more unstable, and in less than a month it turns into Protactinium. Within a minute Protactinium Atoms transmute again, and so the transmutation continues down the decay chain. At the end of the radioactive decay chain, the initial trapped Uranium Atoms finally decays into stable Lead (Pb) Atoms, which will remain Lead forever. The decay rate and time associated with each transmutation is constant in the Universe, which makes it possible to calculate the age of the crystal with Radiometric dating.
As Zircon Crystals are tough, it is the oldest geological time-capsules that survived in Earth's dynamic and ever-changing crust since it cooled. As nothing can get in or out of the Zircon Crystal structure, it is the most accurate way of geological dating.
By comparing the Uranium to Lead ratio in Zirconium silicate crystals on Earth, from Moon samples and from visiting Meteorites, Scientists were able to calculate that the Earth is 4.54 billion years old. The error margin is 50 million years, which is small considering the time-scale.
The background history of Radiometric dating:
In 1896 Henri Becquerel and Marie Curie discovered that certain isotopes undergo spontaneous radioactive decay, transforming into new isotopes. Atoms of a parent radioactive isotope randomly decay into a daughter isotope. Marie Curie won a Nobel Prize in Physics and Chemistry for her work.
About Lead:
The spin-off from trying to date the Earth by finding the Uranium to Lead ratio in Zircon crystals, was that the Scientist Clair Patterson discovered the unusually high amount of toxic Lead in the environment when he tried to analyse the Zircon in a Mass Spectrometer. This was due to the widespread use of Lead-based fuel, Lead-based paint, etc.
Our bodies require metals like Iron in the blood to transfer Oxygen through the body. The body is fooled and assumes that Lead is a good metal, but Lead not only destroys cells, but also blocks the signals of Neuroreceptors in the Brain.
After a lifetime of persistence and mounting evidence, Clair Patterson eventually won the case against the large Oil Companies that tried to discredit his findings. Since then the widespread use of Lead in everyday products were banned (which is why we now use unleaded fuel to power our vehicles).
Interesting reading:
More about isotopes and the Radiometric dating process.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uranium_lead_dating
earthsky.org/earth/this-zircon-crystal-is-the-oldest-piec...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_transmutation
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiometric_dating
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decay_chain
Thank you to Sumarie for letting photograph her beautiful Zircon Crystal specimen.
Photo usage and Copyright:
Medium-resolution photograph licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Terms (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For High-resolution Royalty Free (RF) licensing, contact me via my site: Contact.
Martin
-
[Website] [Photography Showcase] [eBook] [Facebook]
I am so happy these are all completed. This is not how they will be displayed in the Container but I like this arrangement as well.
I have a series of posts on my blog for further details about this project.
My daughter went to Lafayette HS, as did other notable and important people like Harry Dean Stanton, Jim Varney, Gary Brewer, John Y. Brown, and Tom Hammond.
Holga 120CFN, Expired Kodak T-Max 400, D-76 1+1
A pair of Antique neoclassical carved wooden doors depicting both masculine and feminine figures with tablet and scroll.
WAP is the only song to my knowledge that contains the word Gobble and thus should be the official song of Thanksgiving, it also contains a macaroni in a pot reference, how did we MISS their message of wet Pussy and Thamnksgivinng
um.... so yea i dont really know about this one. Knowledge=the lightbulb.
Wow i felt really samry. I spelled "knowledge" wrong the first time...
BUT HOLY CRAP! Im too excited to my saftey. Buzzfest is in less than 4 hours! as of now. (May 10th, 11:14 a.m) My brother was an idiot and pointedly told me to "not die". Now my mother fears for my life in the mosh pit. Thanks Scott. She's also afraid im going get attacked by a druggie or stoner or such... I'll be ok mommy dont worry love you :) I goy mi madre a Jack LaLanne juicer for mothers day. I made apple juice. it was yummy! :D
The wings of the paraglider, carried by sound knowledge of weather and wind. Westenschouwen, Netherlands.
© All of my photographs are Copyrighted and All Rights Reserved. They may not be used or reproduced in any way without my explicit written permission.
Feel free to state your opinion about the image.
Help me improve my skills and knowledge,
Thank you for viewing and commenting!
“The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge”. Stephen Hawkings
I always find it “amazing” how people spend their time discussing other people. We have so many topics for conversations and yet ... I just walk away... *i have almost a week off starting the following Tuesday but contemplating about going away because would really miss NY during the holidays * ♥️
A veces no puedo evitarlo, están ahí y necesitan salir, necesitan expresarse, reprimirlas nunca será una buena alternativa... emociones.
Sometimes I can't help it, they are there and they need to get out, they need to express themselves, repressing them will never be a good alternative... emotions
Instagram #msgpararefletirmos
The knowledge is liberating only when it transforms the creature, otherwise it will be nothing but dead weight!
🤔😆
As far as I can remember, there was a question mark at the end of my sentence!
That's how I gathered a load of knowledge, never been afraid to ask a question, so the subject of this image a very useful tool all through my life!
Always hungry for the how and why.
Yet, I, luckily, do not suffer from morbid curiosity about other people. I am a good listener, they can tell me things, I'm interested, but I will rarely ask personal questions.
I don't consider this indifference, I call it respect.
Think before you ask... there are questions... you HAVE to be able to live with the answer!
If and when I want to photograph someone or something, I ask, if the answer is yes, I am happy, if it is no, I respect it, at least I ASKED!
“There are these four ways of answering questions. Which four?
There are questions that should be answered categorically [straightforwardly yes, no, this, that].
There are questions that should be answered with an analytical (qualified) answer [defining or redefining the terms].
There are questions that should be answered with a counter-question.
There are questions that should be put aside.
These are the four ways of answering questions.”
—Buddha
THANX for ALL your comments and visits, so appreciated, too many to be returned (sadly, however I DO try!...)
Being creative is not a choice... it is an urge in me.
READ MORE HERE, new Blog: magdaindigo.blogspot.com/2010/01/about-innovative-creativ...
Have a wonderful day, filled with love and thanx for your visit, M, (*_*)
Please do not use any of my images on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved
Why not view the set as a slide-show?
Also I often upload more than one image at the same time; I see a tendency to only view the last uploaded...
Teaches my son to make a campfire, happiness was great when it caught fire, now it was hot dogs and marsmelows.This is an important knowledge in Norwegian winter forests to.
A lot of people on flickr have been burning books lately, and so I was inspired to do the same. Went out with my friend Sarah and Sarah to shoot and stuff and Im pretty sure we saw a drug deal or a "prostitute deal" or whatever you call it go down. The book was really old so the book went up in flames fast. Going to be working on the idea of burning things. Let me know what you think!
inspiration came from: www.flickr.com/photos/kmayer/ great photog!
This old oak casts its shadow on the long abandoned stone one-room schoolhouse in Tete Des Morts township in Jackson County Iowa.
On the streets of Nizhny Novgorod on the Day of Knowledge (1 September). 1 September — The First Day of School for Children in Russia.