Saturday, March 21, 2020

Quick Facts About the Element Uranium

Quick Facts About the Element Uranium You probably know uranium is an element and that its radioactive. Here are some other uranium facts for you. You can find detailed information about uranium by visiting the uranium facts page. 11 Uranium Facts Pure uranium is a silvery-white metal.The atomic number of uranium is 92, meaning uranium atoms have 92 protons and usually 92 electrons. The isotope of uranium depends on how many neutrons it has.Because uranium is radioactive and always decaying, radium is always found with uranium ores.Uranium is slightly paramagnetic.Uranium is named after the planet Uranus.Uranium is used to fuel nuclear power plants and in high-density penetrating ammunition. A single kilogram of uranium-235 theoretically could produce ~80 terajoules of energy, which is equivalent to the energy that could be produced by 3000 tons of coal.Natural uranium ore has been known to fission spontaneously. The Oklo Fossil Reactors of Gabon, West Africa, contain 15 ancient inactive natural nuclear fission reactors. The natural ore fissioned back at a prehistoric time when 3% of the natural uranium existed as uranium-235, which was a high enough percentage to support a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction.The density of uranium is about 70% higher than lead, but less than that of gold or tungsten, even though uranium has the second-highest atomic weight of the naturally occurring elements (second to plutonium-244). Uranium usually has a valence of either 4 or 6.Health effects of uranium typically are not related to the elements radioactivity, since the alpha particles emitted by uranium cannot even penetrate the skin. Rather, the health impact is related to the toxicity of uranium and its compounds. Ingestion of hexavalent uranium compounds can cause birth defects and immune system damage.Finely divided uranium powder is pyrophoric, meaning it will ignite spontaneously at room temperature.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

5 Compound-Word Corrections

5 Compound-Word Corrections 5 Compound-Word Corrections 5 Compound-Word Corrections By Mark Nichol Writers sometimes confuse a two-word phrase for a closed compound noun consisting of those two words, or vice versa. Here are five cases in which a noun phrase or a verb phrase was mistaken for a compound word or the other way around. 1. â€Å"Eating McDonald’s food everyday for four weeks turned this filmmaker into a bloated, depressed wreck.† Everyday is an adjective (â€Å"It’s not an everyday occurrence†). â€Å"Every day† is a phrase consisting of an adjective and a noun (â€Å"That’s not something you see every day†). In this sentence, the usage is adjective-plus-noun: â€Å"Eating McDonald’s food every day for four weeks turned this filmmaker into a bloated, depressed wreck.† 2. â€Å"Seen as both godsend and a major let down, it remains the city’s artistic center.† â€Å"Let down,† consisting of a verb and an adverb, is employed in such sentences as â€Å"He was let down.† As a closed compound, it’s a noun: â€Å"That’s a real letdown.† In this sentence, it should be in noun form: â€Å"Seen as both godsend and a major letdown, it remains the city’s artistic center.† 3. â€Å"Resistance from the state legislature could doom the governor-elect’s promise to rollback the hike.† A rollback is a thing (â€Å"The rollback proposal failed in committee†); to roll back is to perform an action (â€Å"The state will roll back the price hike†). This sentence refers to an action, not a thing, so the compound must be changed to a verb phrase: â€Å"Resistance from the state legislature could doom the governor-elect’s promise to roll back the hike.† 4. â€Å"California gave a record $100 million loan to bailout schools.† As in the previous example, what is in context an action is styled as a noun. The sentence should read, â€Å"California gave a record $100 million loan to bail out schools.† Better yet, close the sentence with the preposition: â€Å"California gave a record $100 million loan to bail schools out.† 5. â€Å"International organizations continue their pull out as rebels attack a train.† If the sentence read that the organizations continued to pull out, the two-word verb phrase would be correct. But pulling out is an action, so it’s a pullout: â€Å"International organizations continue their pullout as rebels attack a train.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Style category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Exquisite AdjectivesCapitalization Rules for Names of Historical Periods and MovementsAdvance vs. Advanced