vansig wrote:
if there’s *any* copper produced whatsoever, then it would be altogether too surprising if there weren’t also quite a lot of radioactive Ni-59 produced; (half-life 101 ky), formed by the reaction
Ni-58 + p -> Cu-59 -> Ni-59 + e+.
A test for Ni-59 that would seem to be conclusive.
A small point – the tables I normally use :
http://www.nndc.bnl.gov/chart/reCenter.jsp?z=29&n=30 or http://atom.kaeri.re.kr/ton/nuc4.html
have Cu-59’s decay mode as electron capture, rather than e+ to Ni-59 with a half life of 81.5s
and Ni-59’s half life is 76,000years not 101,000
