HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Time and our heroic element
Date: 10 Sep 1992 04:14:06 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.cchem.berkeley.edu

According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
(formerly NBS): 

  The second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of
the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two
hyperfine levels of the ground state of cesium 133.

  Thought you'd like to know.

     --Dan
-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
Don't step on my blue suede .sig      gezelter@lithium.cchem.berkeley.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri)
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 04:59:18 GMT

gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan) writes:

>The meter is defined as the distance light travels in
>1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum in an inertial reference frame.

And just where do they get an inertial reference frame for measuring
the speed of light in a vacuum???

						--  Michal

Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 05:09:56 GMT

>>Why there's ...
>>	Antimony,
>>	Arsenic,
>>	Aluminum,
>>	Selenium.
>>	And Nitrogen,
>>	And Oxygen,
>>	And Hydrogen,
>>	And Rehenium.....

And here in California we have Referendum.
From: spl@alex.uucp (Steve Lamont)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 10 Sep 92 14:20:14 GMT
Organization: University of Calif., San Diego/Microscopy and Imaging Resource
NNTP-Posting-Host: alex.ucsd.edu

In article <1992Sep10.034258.26438@blaze.cs.jhu.edu> arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) writes:
>In article <18lr53INN4p4@network.ucsd.edu> spl@pitstop.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont) writes:
>>Call me an old mossback but I'll stick with good old oxygen.  Good old
>>friendly O2...
>
>I prefer praseodymium.  I mean, _how_many_ elements have 6 syllables?

Yes, but can you breathe it?

Would you want to?

							spl
-- 
Steve Lamont, SciViGuy -- (619) 534-7968 -- spl@dim.ucsd.edu
UCSD Microscopy and Imaging Resource/UCSD Med School/La Jolla, CA 92093-0608
"There was a time when tyrants feared/The new world of the free.
Now freedom is afraid and shrieks/At tyranny." - "Brave New World," A. Macleish
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept.
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 03:45:57 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.175537.23793@news.cs.indiana.edu> "Ben Wildasin" <bwildasi@whale.cs.indiana.edu> writes:
>alt.cesium.property.electronegativity
>alt.cesium.property.ionization-energy.first (.second, etc.)

No!!!  How can we discuss cesium when the limit to names is 14 letters?
I suggest:

alt.cesium.property.ions.charge
alt.cesium.property.ions.energy
etc.
--
"Oh, you know it in the original Gaelic!"

Ken Arromdee (UUCP: ....!jhunix!arromdee; BITNET: arromdee@jhuvm;
     INTERNET: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu)
From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: I've waited long enough
Date: 16 Sep 92 03:55:56 GMT
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <1992Sep15.231415.19919@convex.com> cowles@convex.com (John Cowles) writes:
>I haven't seen mention of any of the HEAVYs here. What about the
>HEAVY guys after lawrencium? I'm kind of partial to the unnils:
>quadium, pentium, hexium
>anyone for septium, octium, nonium and decium?
>
>Did the element namers get bored, I wonder?
>
I brought them up, and somebody else did too.  We're both waiting for 114 
(Ununquadrium) to come along.

Apparently, there are too many chemists out there discovering elements and none
of them can agree on who was first.  So the IUPAC stepped in and developed this
digit-by-digit naming system...
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: mbrockma@bank.ecn.purdue.edu (Matt Brockman)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 02:38:06 GMT

In article <1992Sep8.205019.28449@news.acns.nwu.edu> birdman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu (Christopher Kush) writes:
>I propose splitting into two groups;
>
>	alt.cesium.atomic-mass
>	alt.cesium.atomic-number

No! Please!

My site doesn't get alt. groups with more than 2 words
in their names. I'm a big fan of cesium and would
hate to see the bulk of the discussion move there.

Besides I think that this would not cut down on the
number of articles and would lead to numerous
redundant cross-postings.

But, if it splitting is inevitable,
I suggest:

alt.cesium.art
alt.cesium.food
and
alt.cesium.misc


===============================================================================
Matt Brockman                                           mbrockma@ecn.purdue.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "While a llama may produce some of the world's finest of wools, prized
        around the world, their breath, on the other hand, could only 
            be prized somewhere in the far reaches of llama hell."
===============================================================================
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: aankrom@nyx.cs.du.edu (Anthony Ankrom)
Subject: Sr-90
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 04:09:45 GMT


 Nobody mentioned Strontium 90! And what about Xenon 133? How about
Xe(133)O3, my favorite explosive. And the isotope HAS to be 133...

St. Anthony

--
 If mail barfs, send it to the ip #: aankrom@130.253.192.68   

                       dAdaMatriX
      I've lost my memories to all my fears...
From: rone@aludra.usc.edu (Ron Echeverri)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 9 Sep 1992 18:21:03 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu

In article <18lr53INN4p4@network.ucsd.edu> spl@pitstop.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont) writes:
>Call me an old mossback but I'll stick with good old oxygen.  Good old
>friendly O2...

Still can't kick the ol' O2 habit, eh?


5150
technetium is my personal favorite
From: lightnin@planet10.WPI.EDU (Paraaaaaaaaade of Shoooooooooes)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 14 Sep 92 18:14:26
Organization: DeityCo: Major and Minor Deities Placement Agency
	<192hcmINNa00@bigboote.WPI.EDU> <192ohmINN1mq@bigboote.WPI.EDU>
NNTP-Posting-Host: planet10.wpi.edu
In-reply-to: gryphon@rajeesh.WPI.EDU's message of 14 Sep 1992 19:18:14 GMT


Along this thread....

Does anyone have any idea where I can get a decent source of utopium.  You
see, I have this physics assignment coming up, and there's a ball on a 
string that disregards wind resistance, friction, and other factors, and I
was hoping to conduct a small expirement....

-lightnin

    /| Lightning: (n) A Force of Nature consisting of an electric discharge.
   / |_Virtual Enterprises, GmbH: Bureaucracy Inaction! 
  /_  /=======================================================================
   / / |Up the long ladder, and down the short rope,       |Email: 
  / /_ |to Hell with King Billy, and God bless the Pope,   |lightnin
 /_  / |if that doesn't do, we'll tear him in two,         |@wpi.wpi.edu
  / /  |and send him to Hell with his red, white, and blue.|__________________
 / /   |                                    -Traditional Irish Children's Song
/ /===========================================================================
|/ "Dark is not one of my favorite colors." -Ralph, the All Purpose Animal.
From: KARLIN@BNLCL6.BNL.GOV (P.L. Cowan)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: > Re: Welcome!!
Summary: protest
Keywords: cesium, atomic, ions
Date: 9 Sep 92 14:38:26 GMT
Reply-To: COWAN@ANL.GOV
Organization: BROOKHAVEN NATIONAL LABORATORY
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.23

In <1992Sep8.205019.28449@news.acns.nwu.edu> birdman@casbah.acns.nwu.edu writes:

: I propose splitting into two groups;
: 
: 	alt.cesium.atomic-mass
: 	alt.cesium.atomic-number
: 
: _________
: _/__\_._| christopher s. kush / birdman@nwu.edu / (708) 467 2067
: _\@_|_._| computer systems / programming, industrial research laboratory
: ___/____| 1801 maple avenue, evanston, illinois 60201 - 3135
: __/_____| mesg y; cat /core | write root &; mesg n

As an atomic physicist I must strongly protest such a division. The 
*IMPORTANT* calacateristics of cesium are *ATOMIC*!!! The proposed split
demonstrates the narrow, nucleo-centric mind-set that has dominated this
newsgroup for far too long!

The appropriate split should be:

     alt.cesium.ions
     alt.cesium.neutals


---------------------------------------------------------------------------
P. L. Cowan     Please send replies, comments etc. (no flames thank you) to 
COWAN@ANL.GOV   (I'm posting this from a friend's account)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: arsmith@lamar.ColoState.EDU (Alan Smith)
Subject: Re: Caesium
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 23:33:19 GMT
Distribution: alt.cesium
Organization: Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO  80523

In article <TK.92Sep14143545@wheat-chex.ai.mit.edu> tk@ai.mit.edu (Tom Knight) writes:
>I'm very disappointed in this newsgroup.  Nowhere have we had an
>adequate discussion of the fundamental issue:
>
>Is our fair element called Cesium or Caesium.  My fine high quality
>wall-sized periodic chart minces no words, and comes down hard on the
>side of Caesium.  We all know, of course, that it comes from the latin
>Caesius, meaning blue-white, so how do you people get off forgetting
>this crucial "a"?
>
Well, my periodic table that i keep near my 'puter says "Cosium" so there!
Frankly, so long as everybody knows what you're talking about, you can call
it "shirley."

>Since Cs is the most electropositive element, surely there must be
>something interesting about CsF, mixing it with the most electronegative?
>Who can give us the definitive story?

You mean, besides the fact that if you rip them apart, odds are the Flouride is gonna wind up with the electron?
From: sharman@Software.Mitel.COM (Richard Sharman)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: More Cesium facts.
Date: 11 Sep 92 03:52:47 GMT
Organization: Mitel. Kanata (Ontario). Canada.
In-reply-to: gezelter@neon.cchem.berkeley.edu's message of 9 Sep 92 22:33:06 GMT

Ok, I'll bite.  What special property of Cesium accounts for this:

| Cesium is used in atomic clocks, which are accurate to 5 seconds in
| 300 years.
From: gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Date: 15 Sep 92 23:36:31 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

In article <1992Sep12.045918.13611@cco.caltech.edu> peri@cco.caltech.edu (Michal Leah Peri) writes:
|>gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan) writes:
|>
|>>The meter is defined as the distance light travels in
|>>1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum in an inertial reference frame.
|>
|>And just where do they get an inertial reference frame for measuring
|>the speed of light in a vacuum???
|>
|>						--  Michal


Probably in the same place they get a perfect vacuum.
-- 

Disclaimer --- The government probably disagrees with my opinions.
From: gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Date: 10 Sep 92 15:11:45 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: sam.cchem.berkeley.edu

In article <BuD831.DKB@news.larc.nasa.gov> a number of people have
taken issue with my quoting of the current NIST standards:

>|> >You sure about this? I'm almost certain that a second is defined as the
>|> >amount of time it takes light to travel 299,xxx,xxx meters in a vacuum.
>|> 
>|> No, actually the meter is defined by the distance travelled by light in
>|> 1/299,xxx,xxx of a second.
>
>NO, actually the meter is *defined* as a certain number of wavelengths of a
>particular atomic transition of Krypton 86 ...

Correct.  Once again, according to the latest NIST standards card, the
meter is defined as 1,650,763.73 wavelengths in vaccuum corresponding
to the transition 2p   -> 5d  of krypton 86.
                    10      5

Please at least *think* about what you claim as a standard.  A
standard is something that can be measured repeatedly and can be used
to set scales, clocks, etc.  Can you imagine the practical and
theoretical difficulties of setting up a clock based on an evacuated
light propogation chamber that is 299,792,500 meters long?

Or better yet, can you imagine the difficulty in timing a light pulse
where the time has to be known to better than 1 part in 10^9 ?

Trust me, I used to work for the NBS.

  --Dan
-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
Don't step on my blue suede .sig      gezelter@lithium.cchem.berkeley.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: mbur@nyx.cs.du.edu (MAC)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
X-Disclaimer: Nyx is a public access Unix system run by the University
	of Denver for the Denver community.  The University has neither
	control over nor responsibility for the opinions of users.
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix at U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 92 17:06:08 GMT

In article <h1rn7_c.gooley@netcom.com> gooley@netcom.com (Mark. Gooley) w
ites:
>Why cesium?
>
>Why not bismuth?
>
>Mark., bismuth freak
>gooley@netcom.com


Or bisquick for that matter.

M
From: gryphon@rajeesh.WPI.EDU (Benjamin D Hutchins)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Date: 14 Sep 1992 17:04:51 GMT
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
NNTP-Posting-Host: rajeesh.wpi.edu

In article <192cqiINNjac@network.ucsd.edu> spl@szechuan.uucp (Steve Lamont) writes:
>In article <1992Sep14.152735.11021@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> orf@scrap.ssec.wisc.edu (Leigh Orf) writes:
>>My 1976 Saab 99's parts are composed primarily of the expensive alloy,
>>Unobtanium.
>
>Actually, if you'll check the owner's manual, you'll find out that
>many are actually an alloy of costilum and unobtanium with trace
>amounts of obscurium.
>

I think he's right--interestingly enough, most parts of my '66 VW Bug are made
of either unobtanium/obscurium or (about 75% of them) commonium.  I think the
flywheel (having rebuilt the engine once) is made of neutronium, and various
parts of the engine appear to be cast aquarium.

--G.

   Natural Progressions to be Found in the English Language:
         .MMWWWWRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEeee            (508)755-4675
        :                          e      14 Dover St. #2B, Worc. MA 01609
      .:  gryphon@world.std.com     ee
cat .:    Benjamin D. Hutchins        eeow........................catapult

Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: zane@ddsw1.mcs.com (Sameer Parekh)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: ddsw1.MCS.COM Contributor, Chicago, IL
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 02:15:35 GMT

In article <h3rnbbp.lllowen@netcom.com> lllowen@netcom.com (lllowen) writes:
>In article <agq-jvB@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu 
>(Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
>>All right!! Alt.cesium exists. Just want to say "hi" to all
>>the other Cesiumites out there and remind everyone that the
>>atomic weight of cesium is 132.90543 g/mol.
>
>Ahhh...yes, but can anyone define it beyond the 5th decimal?

	Yes..
		0.13290543 kg/mol
		That's 8 decimals.. :-)
-- 
Sameer_Parekh zane@ddsw1.MCS.COM zane@infopls.chi.il.us
PFA related mail to pfa@ddsw1.MCS.COM   | Specialization is for insects
Anonymous mail to ap.2363@cupid.sai.com |   - Robert A. Heinlein
Thu Sep 10 20:26:59 1992 US Debt: $4,054,077,940,567 Per capita: $15,876
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: cowles@convex.com (John Cowles)
Subject: I've waited long enough
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 23:14:15 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

I haven't seen mention of any of the HEAVYs here. What about the
HEAVY guys after lawrencium? I'm kind of partial to the unnils:
quadium, pentium, hexium
anyone for septium, octium, nonium and decium?

Did the element namers get bored, I wonder?


-- 
     John Cowles        cowles@hydra.convex.com
                        Convex Computer Corp.  214 497 4375
                        3000 Waterview Pkwy
                        Richardson, Tx. 75080
From: gezelter@neon.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: More Cesium facts.
Date: 9 Sep 1992 22:33:06 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: neon.cchem.berkeley.edu

This is from the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics:

   Cesium - from the latin caesius, meaning sky blue.  atomic weight:
132.9054; atomic number: 55; m.p. 28.40 +/- 0.01 C; b.p. 669.3 C; sp.
gr. 1.873 (@ 20 C); valence 1.  

   Cesium was discovered spectroscopically by Bunsen and Kirchhoff in
1860 in mineral water from Durkheim.  Cesium, an alkali metal, occurs
in lepdolite, pollucite (a hydrated silicate of aluminum and cesium),
and in other sources.  One of the world's richest sources of cesium is
located at Bernic Lake, Manitoba.  The deposits are estimated to
contain 300,000 tons of pollucite, averaging 20% cesium.  It can be
isolated by electrolysis of the fused cyanide and by a number of other
methods.  Very pure, gas-free cesium can be prepared by thermal
decomposition of cesium azide.  The metal is characterized by a
spectrum containing two bright lines in the blue along with several
others in the red, yellow, and green.  It is silvery white, soft, and
ductile.  It is the most electropositive and the most alkaline
element.  Cesium, gallium, and mercury are the only three metals that
are liquid at room temperature.  Cesium reacts explosively with cold
water, and reacts with ice at temperatures above -116 C.  Cesium
hydroxide, the stongest base known, attacks glass.  Because of its
great affinity for oxygen, the metal is used as a "getter" in electron
tubes.  It is also used in photoelectric cells, as well as a catalyst
in the hydrogenation of certain organic compounds.  The metal has
recently found application in ion propulsion systems.  Although these
are not usable in the earth's atmosphere, 1 lb of cesium in outer
space theoretically will propel a vehicle 140 times as far as the
burning of the same amount of any known liquid or solid.  Cesium is
used in atomic clocks, which are accurate to 5 seconds in 300 years.
Its chief compounds are the chloride and the nitrate.  The present
price of cesium is about $25 /gram.
 

Tomorrow on alt.cesium:  The inorganic compounds of cesium and their
                         physical properties.  


Trust me, I'm a chemist.

  --Dan
-- 
_________________________________________________________________________
Don't step on my blue suede .sig      gezelter@lithium.cchem.berkeley.edu
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: gilligan@bldrdoc.gov (Jonathan M. Gilligan)
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
Subject: Re: Time and our heroic element
Date: 11 Sep 92 20:40:51 GMT
Organization: National Institute of Standards and Technology

In article <mDr-L=+@engin.umich.edu> positron@engin.umich.edu (Jonathan Scott Haas) writes:
|>In article <18mi2eINN8e3@agate.berkeley.edu> gezelter@sam.cchem.berkeley.edu (Dan Gezelter) writes:
|>>According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology
|>>(formerly NBS): 
|>>
|>>  The second is defined as the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of
|>>the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two
|>>hyperfine levels of the ground state of cesium 133.
|>>
|>
|>You sure about this? I'm almost certain that a second is defined as the
|>amount of time it takes light to travel 299,xxx,xxx meters in a vacuum.

Wrong. The meter is defined as the distance light travels in
1/299,792,458 of a second in a vacuum in an inertial reference frame.

---Jon
-- 

Disclaimer --- The government probably disagrees with my opinions.
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: eugene@wilbur.nas.nasa.gov (Eugene N. Miya)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: NAS, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 20:16:49 GMT

>>Mark., bismuth freak
>Lithium has always been a personal favorite of mine.  Joel McGregor

I believe that the marked decline in science education can best be observed
by the wimpy or non-existent character of chemistry sets these days.  
We need more serious "don't try this at home"-types who seriously
aren't just tinkering, but are attempting to learn things.

I'm partial to trans-uranic elements myself (Pu, Am, Cf, you can get Cs
from many of these, just give me some decay time, don't get me wrong
I like Li, too). 8^)

Time to go. 'u'

--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@orville.nas.nasa.gov
  Acting Associate Editor, Software and Publication Reviews
  Scientific Programming
  {uunet,mailrus,other gateways}!ames!eugene
Ref: Mathematics and Plausible Reasoning, vol. 1, G. Polya
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel)
Subject: Re: Elemental, my dear Watson.
Organization: Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 15:07:49 GMT

mikeehli@cie.uoregon.edu (Mike Ehli) writes:

>In article <1992Sep9.152308.14188@javelin.sim.es.com> biesel@javelin.sim.es.com (Heiner Biesel) writes:
>>Sure, Cesium is nice, and will suffice, but I want my astatine. Lives
>>there an element more enshrouded in mystery than this? What a mellifluous
>>name, what bizarre properties! Ah, astatine ...

>But what I want to see is some research into the properties of francium
>astatide...but I'll settle for hydroastatic acid....
>Francium hydroxide with a jigger of promethium?

Funny you should bring that up. Francium astatide is used extensively in the
manufacture of Blevins catheters. Alkaline salts of astatine find use in
the curing of Slim Jims, and - curiously enough - in the castration of 
laboratory mice. Elemental astatine is a key ingredient in devices for 
reducing the  accumulation of static charge on plastics, primarily polyvinyl 
chloride. 3,4 dimethoxy 5 astatine phenylacetonitrile keeps buggy whips
supple, thus sustaining America's leading role in this vital international
industry. I think it would be fair to say that without astatine and its
many vital contributions to technology, commerce, animal husbandry, and
the arts, life as we know it would come to an end, but I won't say it.

Regards,
       H. Biesel
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: markg@county.lmt.mn.org (Mark Gilbert)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: LaserMaster R&D, Minneapolis, MN  USA
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 06:39:40 GMT

In article <18noh1INNogp@network.ucsd.edu> spl@pitstop.ucsd.edu (Steve Lamont) writes:

>BTW, ever put, oh, about a half an inch of liquid nitrogen in a
>plastic soft drink bottle, cap it tightly, and put it in the middle of
>an empty field?  (HINT: Run like hell and cover your ears)

>                                                        spl

Works with dry ice too.  (Sorry to get off the track, I know that's not an 
element.)

Mark Gilbert
Newsgroups: alt.cesium
From: kludge@grissom.larc.nasa.gov (Scott Dorsey)
Subject: Re: Welcome!!
Organization: NASA Langley Research Center and Reptile Farm
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 23:33:18 GMT

>Does anyone have any idea where I can get a decent source of utopium.  You
>see, I have this physics assignment coming up, and there's a ball on a 
>string that disregards wind resistance, friction, and other factors, and I
>was hoping to conduct a small expirement....

Try looking over near that spool of resistanceless wire, by the nonreactive
transmission line.  Otherwise try over near the pulleys whose mass can be
discounted as effectively zero.
--scott
Newsgroups: alt.cesium