From:	justinf@****.caltech.edu (Justin Fang)
Subject:	Re: Doom
Date:	Thu, 9 May 1996 23:45:38 -0700 (PDT)

winter wrote:
> Ah, I see. My S-tech is on loan and I had only a vague concept of
> what it was. A quick phone call got me the basics, but with this
> information, I might be able to research somthing more applicable to
> the situation when I get back to school on monday. As to bismuth,
> it's short half-life seems to be both a blessing and a cure.

I presume you meant to say "blessing and a curse", but "cure" is
actually an appropriate typo: the short half-life is perfect for a
medical application. You can place the treatment facility near the
isotope production facility (a particle accelerator of small nuclear
reactor) so transit time isn't a problem, and you *want* the stuff to
go away quickly, instead of hanging around and causing problems.

For less benevolent purposes, though, you want something with a
somewhat longer half-life, (a weapon that loses half its potency every
hour is sort of annoying.) There are plenty of radioisotopes to
choose from, just pick one that hangs around for a few days or weeks
or months.

> To be an effective threat, the radiation must be intense, but that
> energy must come from either a large amount of mass or a highly
> radioactive substance.

And, of course, the more radioactive a substance, the shorter its
half-life.

> I belive that this stuff might be used as a crainal-bomb
> equivilant that corps might use to control powerful operatives, but
> not a weapon, even of assassination.

The problem with that application is that a) it keeps decaying on you,
requiring periodic replacement, and b) it isn't sudden enough, so the
operative has plenty of time to try and get treatment or spill
everything he knows. Certain people who like baroque methods of
assassination might use it. You could also use a long half-life
isotope and try to kill your target by giving him cancer. Slow and
unreliable, but difficult to detect or trace.

Anyway, the conclusion is that Doom is really nasty stuff, but its
applications are somewhat limited.

> -winter

Justin Fang (justinf@****.caltech.edu)
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