Lead is the stable end-product of three major nuclear decay chains. In fact, it has the highest atomic number (82) of all the non-radioactive elements. Astatine, on the other hand, is so unstable that it is the rarest naturally-occurring element in the Earth's crust. Its nucleus is so fragile that only microscopic quantities of the…Read more The Sad Story of Lead and Astatine
Month: August 2019
Sick Note
Dear Reader, I trust you will excuse little Johnny Crotchety from blogging today. The sniffle he has had for the last three days has become a lot worse and blocked nasal sinuses made for a very restless night. With hindsight, it was probably a mistake to amble across the moors of Derbyshire yesterday. Although the…Read more Sick Note
Then Again
Crotchety Man has just returned from a one-week holiday in Cornwall, a county in the far south west corner of England. The map app on the household Mac says it's about a 5 hour drive from here but the journey home took twice as long. That was partly because we chose the slower, leafier A-roads…Read more Then Again
Crotchety Man 