Ack. Never mind about the links. Roach’s is quite definitive.
D’oh!
You’re absolutely right, of course, Roachman; the biological half-life of plutonium is shorter than the radioactive half-life.
Somehow, I managed to not only write that backwards, and proofread it backwards (so to speak), but to read your comments and my post and wonder to myself, “I don’t see the point; didn’t I say that?” (answer: no).
I’m not sure if I should go have a drink, or lay off the stuff for a month.
“Kings die, and leave their crowns to their sons. Shmuel HaKatan took all the treasures in the world, and went away.”
But since it bonds to the bones once injested, it sticks around a long time. Since a holdable sample of Pu is warm to the touch just from its radiation, I wouldn’t want to be carrying that around in my innards.
What a surprise, whoever scanned these pictures must have gotten them from the book. I got the book when I was about
12, in 1970, and out of fond attachment I still have it. I value it now for the quaintness of its illustrations and
examples.
Re the Time Life “Matter” book remember the picture of the yowling kitten atop the blazing bunsen burner separated only by the small square of ablating fire-resistant plastic. It was a classic picture.