Our half-life days | Xu Hong

Follow the voice of the storm

Elevate your thinking

Guide

When I was uranium-238, you were always picky about my weight. I have been expecting and praying for five billion years, and finally there has been a α decay. Two protons, two neutrons left my body, and I became thorium-234.

In MIT's open class Principles of Chemistry, Professor Catherine Drennan shares a chemistry poem, Days of Our Half Lives. The video can be seen https://open.163.com/newview/movie/free?pid=M6TUCF6FT&mid=M6TUL3NFT, from 12 minutes 40 seconds to 17 minutes 50 seconds. The Chinese translation of the original video is basically correct, but there are some places where the English quip is not understood, and the author of this article gives a translation and annotation below.

The poem was written by Mala Radhakrishnan, a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts who received her Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The poem takes the form of an emotional story about the decay of uranium-238 into a series of nuclides. The author has put a lot of effort into making the whole poem not only rhyme neatly, but also correct in chemical knowledge.

The poem is an excerpt from Mara's collection of chemical poems, Chemistry for the Couch Potato. Couch is a couch, and Americans call those who hide in the couch all day after eating a full meal and watch TV as couch potatoes, which very vividly corresponds to the "Ge You Lie" of Chinese. Reading "Lazy Chemistry" is a good way to learn about chemistry.

Days of our half lives

My dearest love, I'm writing you to tell you all that I've been through.

My beloved, I write to tell you what I have been through.

I've changed my whole identity,

My identity has changed completely,

But loved, I cannot pretend to be.

But once loved, can not be hidden.

When I was uranium 238,

When I was uranium-238,

You were on my case to start losing weight.

You've been picky about my weight. [Comment: on sb's case: constant accusations]

For five billion years I hoped and I prayed,

I have been looking forward to and praying for five billion years,

And finally I had an alpha decay.

Finally, a α decay was carried out.

Two protons, two neutrons went right out the door,

Two protons, two neutrons left my body,

And now I was thorium 234.

I became thorium-234.

But my nucleus was still unfit for your eyes,

My nucleus still can't get into your eyes,

Not positive enough for its large size.

The size is large but there is not enough positive electricity.

But this time my half-life was really not very long,

But this time my half-life is not very long.

Because my will to change was quite strong.

Because my willingness to change myself is very strong.

It took just a month, not even a millennium,

It only took a month, not a thousand years,

To beta decay into protactinium.

I became a pickaxe because one β decayed.

But you still rejected me right off the bat,

But you immediately rejected me: [Comment: right off the bat : (American slang) Immediately, immediately]

Protactinium—who's heard of that?

Protactinium – who has heard of it?

So, beta decay, I did much more to become uranium 234.

So once again β decayed, and I became myself again.

Myself again, but a new isotope,

To a new isotope, uranium-234.

You still weren't satisfied, but I still had hope.

You're still dissatisfied, but I'm hopeful.

Three alpha decays, it was hard, but I stayed on

I went through three more α decay, and despite the hardships, there was a beginning and an end,

Through thorium, through radium, and then radon.

Become thorium, become radium, then become radon.

I thought I would finally please you,

I think I'm finally able to make you happy.

My mass was a healthy 222.

Take the mass number of 222 of my health.

But you said, although I like your mass,

Yet you say that while you like this number,

I do not want to be with a noble gas.

But don't want to be with an inert gas.

You had a point, I wasn't reactive,

You're right, I'm not lively,

So in order to please you, I stayed proactive.

So to please you, I stay positive.

A few days later I found you and said,

I came to you a few days later and told you I was lead,

Two more alpha decays and now I am lead.

For this reason I went through two more α decays.

You shook your head,

You shake your head and say,

You were not too keen on my mass number of 214.

You don't like my mass number 214 very much.

I had a bad experience with that mass before,

There are indeed bad experiences that accompany this number,

An unstable astatine walked right out the door.

Once slipped out of the door there was an unstable arsenic atom.

So in order to change, I went away,

I left you in order to continue to change,

But all I could do was just beta decay.

But I can only do β decay.

My hopes and my dreams started to go under,

My hopes and dreams began to fail,

Because beta decay doesn't change a mass number.

Because β decay does not change the mass number.

To bismuth, then polonium, I hoped and I beckoned,

become bismuth, then into polonium,

I look forward to, beckon,

My half-life was 164 microseconds.

with a half-life of 164 microseconds,

And then finally I alpha decayed,

Finally α decayed into lead-210,

And then I was lead with the prize worthy mass of 210.

A commendable number.

I've got to admit I was getting quite tired,

I have to admit that I am very tired,

My patience with you had nearly expired.

My patience with you is almost to the limit.

You were more demanding than any I dated,

You're harder to satisfy than anyone I've ever dated,

And much of my energy had already been liberated.

And most of my energy has been released.

But you still weren't happy, but you had a fix,

You are still not happy and propose a plan for satisfaction:

I really like the number of 206.

"Actually I like the number 206."

So I waited for years until the day,

So I waited for years until this day,

Which began with another beta decay.

I began to β decay again.

And then one more, and finally in the end

And then again, after all

I alpha-ed to lead 206, my friend.

My α decayed into lead-206.

To change any further I wouldn't be able,

At this point, I can't make any changes.

No longer active, but happily stable.

No longer active, becoming stable, I would rather.

It took me billions of years to do,

It took me hundreds of millions of years.

And look how I changed and all just for you.

See how I'm completely for you to change.

And wait, what did you say?

- Wait a minute, what do you say?

“You've gotten so old,

"You're so old,

that I'd rather be with a young lass of gold”

And I prefer to be with the young golden girl. ”

Well, I gave up.

Well, I give up.

We're through, my pumpkin.

We're done, honey. [Comment: pumpkin : (Spoken) Dear]

Shouldn't all my effort be counting for something?

Is my effort worth nothing?

Well, you won't be able to rule me anymore,

No, you will no longer be able to control me,

Because I'm leaving you, not for one atom, but four.

For I am leaving you, not for one, but for four atoms.

That's right. When you were away defusing,

That's right, just when you're out there doing nothing,

I met some chlorines that I found quite amusing.

I came across some interesting chlorine atoms.

So we're going to form PbCl4,

We are going to combine into lead tetrachloride,

And you won't be hearing from me anymore.

You will never know my situation again.

See, over the years I've grown quite wise,

Over the years I have suddenly become enlightened,

I've learned that love is about compromise.

I understood that love means giving in to each other.

You still have half of your half-lives to live,

You still have a half-life in your life,

So now you go out there, it's your turn to give.

Now it's your turn to give and work hard.

Background: Xu Hong, the author of this article, holds a bachelor's degree in urban planning from Tongji University and a doctoral candidate majoring in chemical engineering and technology from China University of Petroleum (Beijing). He is a member of the China Popular Science Writers Association. The author authorized the debut of Voice of the Storm.

Editor-in-Charge: Sun Yuan