Aluminum-26 (26Al) is a radioactive isotope that has a relatively short half-life, approximately 0.74 million yeras. Thus, since the formation of the earth some 4500 million years ago, the concentrations of 26Al should have decayed to nearly zero, yet 26Al has also been found in lunar and Martian samples. We attempt to elucidate the mechanism by which this aluminum arrived, or formed, on/in the space blanket, the lunar material, and the Martian material. The fecundity of four proposed abundance schemes is analyzed. The four schemes are as follows: (I) stellar evolution and nucleosynthesis, (ii) nuclear testing in the upper atmosphere, (iii) fission powered satellites, and (iv) cosmic ray-induced nuclear reactions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ucf.edu/oai:stars.library.ucf.edu:honorstheses1990-2015-1281 |
| Date | 01 January 2001 |
| Creators | Jonas, Seth H. |
| Publisher | STARS |
| Source Sets | University of Central Florida |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | HIM 1990-2015 |
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