Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Depleted Uranium
Options
-
25-03-2011 9:17am#1
Comments
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
Some videos of the effects of DU. Warning, Disturbing material.
Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSCCsUV7PqQ&feature=related
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9MNQDQXkzs&feature=related
0 -
I think the term Depleted Uranium (DU) conjures up more fear than fact.
Don't get me wrong, I am not defending it. However, there's a lot of bad information out there, let's get that out of the way.
The DU used by the military is actually the "cleaned up" version. All of the truly nasty stuff, such as Plutonium, Thorium, and the active Isotopes of Uranium are recovered for future use - recycled.
The remaining DU has very low levels of radioactivity. It does emit α, β, and γ rays. However, radioactivity is not major problem.
α can be blocked by a your skin, or a piece of paper if need be. They are pretty big, like a He that lost its e's. That does not mean they are not dangerous.
β can be blocked by a sheet of tin foil. That does not mean they are not dangerous.
γ rays are tough to block - get out some Pb. Fortunately, the amount of γ-rays present in DU is very low. So low that it does not significantly contribute a noticeable amount to the background radiation.
From what I remember in University, DU is 40% less active than the naturally occurring chunk of ore they started with before the enrichment process. Which wasn't anywhere near the levels of the truly scary stuff: Pu239, Cs137, or I131. If you want to be concerned, then be concerned about the last two. They are much more radioactive - I'll have to check again, but from memory I believe we are talking a trillion times more active.
Now again, I am not saying that you should take α, β, or γ rays lightly. They may not dangerous to the exterior, but they are a problem when they get inside us. Such as when we eat something, drink something or breathe something.
When it gets into your body DU will pose more of a chemically toxic threat than a radiological. Again, not defending it, chemical toxicity is true of all heavy metals in the body.
This is a fundamental problem with munitions - fine particles of the DU becoming suspended in the air after the strike and being breathed in.
Ever see those picturesque images of a cow grazing in a field near a nuclear plant? Well, rest assured you will never drink that milk. The cows are there for a reason - they are an indicator species.
If you didn't already know to stay away from dairy in regions where there are problems: Japan and Chernobyl for example, now you do. Giving children contaminated milk wreaks havoc on their fast growing thyroids. This was probably the single greatest cause of childhood cancers in the Chernobyl area. Very preventable. Not recent science.
Every day those cows are milked. The milk is sent to a lab that runs tests.
I have been to one such facility at Brookhaven labs. I remember walking into a room with several hundred bottles of milk and being weirded out. Next came the logical question. The answer to which was that cows are one of the quickest, cheapest, most reliable ways of testing for even the slightest leak. If there's a leak, the milk will show.
So again, I am not defending its use, just trying to clear up a few misconceptions.
Probably should have done this on the Physics forum and not the CT!0 -
-
-
Some info on DU.
This stuff is not harmless, gulf war 1 was the testing ground and look at the cancer rate there now and among the service men and women who were guine pigs, GWS lies and cover-up, US looking after their hero's mental health when they return from a kill or be killed session in a far away land for a reason that stopped making sense a long time ago, but it was too bad by then so they had to stay just a little bit longer to teach freedom.
But the effect's of Depleted Uranium cannot be swept under the carpet, it's a radioactive cancer causing material that should not be used in weapons when the eventual resting spot of this radioactive material will be contaminated for
Warning: These video's may show the truth of D.U. deformed babies.
Depleted Uranium Radioactive Contamination In Iraq: An Overview
Abstract
Depleted Uranium (DU) weaponry has been used against Iraq for the first time in the history of recent wars. The magnitude of the complications and damage related to the use of such radioactive and toxic weapons on the environment and the human population mostly results from the intended concealment, denial and misleading information released by the Pentagon about the quantities, characteristics and the area’s in Iraq, in which these weapons have been used.
http://www.brussellstribunal.org/DU-Azzawi.htm
FISMA:
Regarding the point:
On impact with a hard target, such as an armored vehicle, the nose of the rod fractures in such a way that it remains sharp. The impact and subsequent release of heat energy causes it to disintegrate to dust and burn when it reaches air because of its pyrophoric properties.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depleted_uranium#Ammunition
What is causing deformities in Fallujah's children?
Questions have been raised over the number of deformities found in young children in Fallujah, Iraq, after a paediatrician told the BBC there are two to three cases each day in one hospital.
In 2004 Fallujah was the scene of heavy fighting in which the US military eventually regained control of the city. Local people told the BBC they suspect US forces used white phosphorus and depleted uranium (DU), although this has not been proved.
A dense metal used in armour-piercing shells, DU is both radioactive and toxic and has been linked to lung cancer and kidney failure. But the evidence is not conclusive, and a US study in 2005 found that it should not cause cancer or birth defects.
http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2010/03/what-is-causing-deformities-in.html
0 -
Sure can:http://www.journal.dnd.ca/vo4/no1/research-recherch-eng.aspI am very interested to learn more about how something can melt into a sharp point.
Do you have a link or source that explains the Physics behind such an event?
Another:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/2860759.stm
And finally a place mentioning how illiegal DU is:http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16442
They quote the Geneva Convention:Geneva Convention Rules (to which US and UK are signees)
- The limitation of unnecessary human suffering [Art.35.2]
- The limitation of damage to the environment [Art. 35.3 and 55.1]
- It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and material and methods of warfare of a nature to cause superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering [Art. 35.3]
- It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment. [Art. 35.2]
- In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operations only against military objectives. [Art. 48]
- Indiscriminate attacks are prohibited. Indiscriminate attacks are:
(a) those which are not directed at a specific military objective;
(b) those which employ a method or means of combat which cannot be directed at a specific military objective; or
(c) those which employ a method or means of combat the effects of which cannot be limited as required by this Protocol; and consequently, in each such case, are of a nature to strike military objectives and civilians or civilian objects without distinction. [Art.51.4]
- Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which are intended or may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to prejudice the health or survival of the population. [Art. 55.1]
Is there a breach of law going on here?0 -
shedweller wrote: »One of the more interesting properties of DU is that when it strikes its target, instead of mushrooming and spreading the load, it melts into a sharp point.
I don't think you mean what you said here. Especially not since the image you show is doing exactly that - mushrooming.In fact, they use the term mushrooming after the image
"As seen in Figure 7b, the penetrator mushrooms within the target, with macroscopic plastic deformation followed by erosion. The initial strain is principally localized within the matrix, which rapidly work hardens to form the mushroom shape. A consequence of the mushrooming due to work hardening is that energy is expended radially to expand the penetration cavity."
http://www.journal.dnd.ca/vo4/no1/research-recherch-eng.asp
As for (a) - that's interesting: adiabatic shear sharpening. The word adiabatic conjures up memories from Thermo of no heat being transferred into or out of the system. I guess this would be a fair assumption if the collision was short lived.
It appears that they are saying during the collision is an adiabatic process. Thus, there's no heat flow, so no melting. Correct?The impact and subsequent release of heat energy causes it to disintegrate to dust and burn when it reaches air because of its pyrophoric properties. When a DU penetrator reaches the interior of an armored vehicle, it catches fire, often igniting ammunition and fuel, killing the crew, and possibly causing the vehicle to explode
The collision occurs so fast there is little time for heat, which flows slowly, to flow. Thus, the collision may be assumed adiabatic.
Interesting articles and feedback people - thanks for the links.0 -
Advertisement
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Advertisement
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWTJ1let0so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJWHiVC_0aI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_q8YjiLWQg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFqyK8kB1Vk
Advertisement