this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2023
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xkcd

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Unlike an Iron Age collapse, a Bronze Age collapse releases energy, since copper and tin are past the iron peak on the curve of binding energy.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago (3 children)

I don't know how many of those are legit and how many are humorous

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

First row is real. Second row, not so much.

That said, the "one big nucleon" is pretty close in concept to a neutron star. It needs a few more nucleons than there are in a single atom though. Just a few. And it's not really a decay mode as it is a gravitational effect.

It's also kind of reminiscent of superatoms - clusters of atoms that act like one single atom - but that is very much not the same. (The nuclei aren't fused. They maintain regular, sensible, atomic distances. Electrons are free to pass between. etc.)

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

What do you mean? They're all completely real

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Can you prove that the collapse due to the invasion of the sea people isn't real? Until you can, I fully accept it as a real type of decay.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Electron capture is neat and there is also :
Double electron capture
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_electron_capture

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

holy shit electron capture 2

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

The skull presumably represents the finality of such a decay, given that the end stage of human decay leaves behind a skeleton, something that does not exist in nucleons. [citation needed]