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MalvagioMarco's profile
Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff
Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff
Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff
@MalvagioMarco

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Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff

@MalvagioMarco

Physicist, SFF lover, wannabe teacher. No historian! But salty about VIth century politics. ADHD. He/him. Posting about old stuff, weird stuff, weird old stuff.

Europe
Joined December 2018

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    1. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      How did that happen? If creating particles you make the same exact amount of matter and antimatter, how could antimatter run out first? That's a major issue for particle physicists. It's not entirely a mystery, but not yet settled either.

      1 reply 0 retweets 38 likes
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    2. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      Long story VERY short, there are some processes which can create, by the tiniest amount, more matter than antimatter. One such process goes by the very human-friendly name of "neutrinoless double beta decay". The name is a mouthful, so I'll call it "Bob".

      1 reply 2 retweets 44 likes
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    3. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      Basically, if it actually exists, it means an element becomes a different element, creating two electrons - without antimatter to balance. Problem is, we don't know if this process really exists!

      1 reply 0 retweets 32 likes
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    4. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      If it exists, beside making alchemists happy, its existence would prove Important Physics Stuff I Won't Try to Explain, and possibly contribute to the matter\antimatter unbalance.

      1 reply 0 retweets 36 likes
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    5. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      ...so, where do the Romans come into play? See, Bob is a very, very rare process. The only way to see it happen is to gather a lot of the material that COULD decay (for example the element Tellurium)... and wait. If Bob happens, it will release a tiny, tiny amount of energy.

      1 reply 0 retweets 33 likes
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    6. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      Problem is: A LOT of things release energy! Imagine you're looking for the faintest spark of light imaginable, and you have no way to tell it apart from any other light source. Stars, mobile phones, fireflies... anything would look brighter.

      1 reply 0 retweets 30 likes
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    7. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      You'd go to a very dark room, of course. And that's what physicists do. Detectors for this kind of rare events are built deep underground, where miles of rock stop not only light, but cosmic rays. pic: a typical source of noise for underground experimentspic.twitter.com/aIgVI4NTAB

      drawing of Gandalf fighting the Balrog
      3 replies 1 retweet 58 likes
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    8. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      That's not enought, though! Heat generates some light, too. So the detector must be cooled almost to absolute zero. One of the detectors for the "Bob" process, CUORE, is the coldest chunk of matter that we know of in the whole universe. Because THAT'S how cold you need it.pic.twitter.com/zRYw3aTJH6

      the CUORE experiment - a copper cylinder surrounded by scientists in isolating suits
      1 reply 0 retweets 39 likes
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    9. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      And it still isn't enough. See, the experiment must be shielded with lead to stop even the tiniest possible amount of radiation. But lead itself emits a minuscule amount of radiation!

      1 reply 0 retweets 34 likes
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    10. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      That's because there are radioactive isotopes (close nuclear brothers) of lead that slowly decay into regular lead. This radioactive lead is produced by trace amounts of Uranium in lead ore, so all lead in the world has some.

      1 reply 0 retweets 28 likes
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      Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

      But, with time, radioactive lead decays. It takes 22 years to halve - so lead which has ben refined centuries ago has much less radioactivity than the one recently mined. Lead mined *2000 years ago* is basically perfect.

      1:32 PM - 11 Dec 2020
      • 39 Likes
      • SamGullGood Kelseythekiwi io Tiago Ortiz Nardi Jejune @ Finally Gets Cats Cyn His Bark Materials 🌌 J. C. Cantwell H@nn@
      3 replies 0 retweets 39 likes
        1. New conversation
        2. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Ancient romans didn't know much about particle physics [citation needed]. But they were REALLY into metallurgy! They mined incredibly high amounts of iron, lead and copper - much more than any later preindustrial society in the West.

          1 reply 1 retweet 48 likes
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        3. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Given how much they traded in the mediterranean, a substantial amount of lead sunk in shipwrecks. And it's still there, underwater - millennia old lead, almost perfectly pure.

          1 reply 1 retweet 42 likes
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        4. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Roman lead from ancient shipwreck makes the shielding for the CUORE experiment. The detectors are deep under a mountain, kept colder than interstellar space, surrounded by ancient lead. Sounds like it could double as a demon's prison tbh.

          1 reply 6 retweets 72 likes
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        5. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          CUORE so far did not find any "Bob" event, but set the world's most stringent limits on their frequency ("if there were more than X events, we'd know by now"), advancing our understanding of reality.

          1 reply 0 retweets 34 likes
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        6. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Retrieving the roman lead was a joint venture between physicis and history research agencies - historians kept all the parts with writings or other historically significant data, physicists kept the rest.

          1 reply 0 retweets 44 likes
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        7. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          I'll tell the truth, the historians involved weren't thrilled about it - they weren't happy about melting down roman lead. But while I'm REALLY passioned about preserving history, for once I don't care tbh: it was literally shapeless lead.

          1 reply 0 retweets 47 likes
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        8. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Not everything old is of great historical value. On the other hand, as a particle shield that lead is a literally irreplaceable resource. I like the idea of something so ancient directly contributing to something so modern.

          1 reply 0 retweets 62 likes
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        9. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Well, that was is. Sorry for the long-ass thread. Also, whoever AKSHUALLIES me about physics will be utterly ignored, I know I made simplifcations - particle physics really isn't a newbie friendly topic.

          1 reply 0 retweets 47 likes
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        10. Marco Malvagio - poorly explained history stuff‏ @MalvagioMarco 11 Dec 2020

          Well, this was an unusual thread, but if you enjoyed it, here there are some more human-friendly ones!https://twitter.com/i/events/1323038608748662786 …

          1 reply 0 retweets 34 likes
          Show this thread
        11. End of conversation
        1. J. C. Cantwell‏ @segfaultvicta 12 Dec 2020
          Replying to @MalvagioMarco

          *tiny gasp as they see where this is going*

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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