Within ten million or so years ago, a sprinkle of plutonium 244 arrived on Earth. It got buried in the sea bed, then got dug up by a Japanese oil crew and donated to researchers. A few hundred plutonium atoms were discovered. The ramifications of this simple story are mindboggling.
The thing is – Plutonium 244 isn’t a naturally occurring element. It doesn’t occur at all on Earth. It has to be made by some heavy duty physics. It’s made by neutron bombardment of uranium. That means that it’s a “secondary”, evolved, element. If the origins are clear, the story isn’t.
Researchers are now banging their heads against this unsuspected development. The current theory is that some massive cataclysmic event like a giant hyper nova, an exploding supergiant, produces plutonium. Extrapolating from that, researchers are looking for clues and getting more issues.
The questions are how that happened and how the plutonium got here. There are no known stellar phenomena which can crank out plutonium. Supernovae can generate a lot of heavier atoms, but not plutonium, as far as anyone knows. A lot of energy, generating a lot of neutrons, would be required.
Space keeps throwing these things at astrophysics and physics. Recently, an “impossible crystal” also showed up. This thing has a remarkably stable-looking structure, and it theoretically can’t happen.
The other problem is that so many unknown processes, as well as materials, keep arriving from space. This one is so far the jackpot, particularly for heavier elements. The plutonium has raised every possible question about origin, formation, and, naturally, how it got here.
Nobody would be even mildly surprised if there was a virtual encyclopedia of unknown stellar or other processes involved. That seems to be quite normal in space.
Questions
Other questions also might arise:
A few hundred atoms only? That’s a sprinkle. Heavy elements notoriously don’t “sprinkle”. Maybe this material isn’t generated in large amounts, anyway. Plutonium is super-heavy by Table of Elements standards. Other heavy metals like lead and gold also don’t sprinkle. Their sheer mass tends to keep them together. This proves the point that the plutonium didn’t come from Earth, but what can vaporize plutonium to that extent, individual atoms?
Other elements, notably rare forms of iron, were also discovered in the sample. That’s another obvious pointer to supernova processes, but you’d need to cross-reference a lot of data to even guess its origins. What went hyper-boom millions of years ago, with a signature that includes that type of iron and plutonium?
Information communication blues again
Research coverage rather confusingly mentions “colliding neutron stars, multiple super novae”, and even less helpfully, a nova event 3 million years ago, leaving out most of the 10 million year timeframe cited for the original plutonium sample. Thanks, guys, you’re peachy keen. A supply of annoyed neutrons certainly helps, but…?
Another issue – Free plutonium in space? What, it just sails along through space and massive interstellar radiation, not interacting with anything? How does that work? It doesn’t say hi to the huge superheated plasma the Voyagers discovered flying around outside the Solar System? Plutonium is a resistant material, sure, but that resistant? How?
The behaviour of materials in space is usually pretty simple – Those materials get hit with anything and everything. What lands on Earth is usually a mess. This plutonium arrives in virtual mint condition? How, again?
One thing for sure – There’s a lot happening out there without much in the way of explanations. This is high-value information. Sources of anything and everything are well worth knowing about. Don’t be too surprised to see some more unknowns popping up as this research continues.
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