From: Mark Ross (markross13_at_home.com)
Date: Wed Jun 20 2001 - 16:57:13 PDT
>Using totally vague recollections, someone on the (old PN) NTLK shut down
>all conjecture by saying he had (??) bombarded it with x-rays (??) and
>plotted the scatter and proved that it was aluminum. He posted the
>absorption/reflection/whatever graph for all to see. I was never sure if he
>made it all up, but who was I to claim that?
>
>In any case, I believe the styluses to be aluminum because they feel and
>sound like my aluminum bicycle, not my titanium bicycle.
>
>Allen
I can shed a bit of light on this. X-ray fluorescence is commonly used
to determine what elements are present in a sample. X-rays have
sufficient energy to dislodge the inner orbital electrons and therefore
the energy pattern that results from this electron displacement is unique
to each element. Since orbital energies are quantized, you obtain
specific energies from each one. A specific pattern of energy spikes is
associated with each element. I smell our NSF guy, Paul Filmer, behind
this one. He has easy access to a large number of analytical techniques.
Your tax dollars at work.
Mark Ross
markross13_at_home.com
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