Comments on: Picture Quiz: Black Terror #11

By: Chris Stuurman

Chris Stuurman — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 15:45:02 +0000

Why the hell is he wearing a head mirror for his microscope work? Unless said microscope doesn’t have a light, and he’s using some trick shooting to reflect light off his mirror, into something else, and then up into the microscope. Which would admittedly be pretty awesome.

I don’t think you can analyze metals through an ordinary microscope.

I’m not geologist, but it seems unlikely to have gold, platinum, and radium in the same one rock.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 12:58:27 +0000

Also if they’re present in economically-viable amounts, the doctor and his young friend are probably getting a healthy dose of radiation right now.

By: rabrab

rabrab — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:10:30 +0000

Unless I’ve completely forgotten my geology, those three minerals are unlikely to all be present in economically-viable concentrations in the same area. Unless Baldpate Island is somewhere in the Rocky Mountains.

By: mike.

mike. — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 16:47:32 +0000

No pocket protector! :p

By: Olivier

Olivier — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 12:10:30 +0000

Plus there’s the way he’s using the microscope.

By: Eric Henry

Eric Henry — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 10:40:07 +0000

I think they meant pitchblende indicates the presence of radium, which it does. (Either that or uranium.)

The head mirror in in the middle of headband, which is wrong as it should be above or below the headband, and is being worn in the middle of the forehead, which is wrong as it sould be above one eye.

By: Axolotl

Axolotl — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:48:22 +0000

How would looking through a microscope enable him to identify what types of metal were present?

By: Dan Grendell

Dan Grendell — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 08:11:44 +0000

I’m guessing that they are saying that the pitchblende indicates the presence of radium, not the platinum, since radium is found in tiny quantities in pitchblende.

By: Robb

Robb — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 07:18:46 +0000

Why would the presence of platinum indicate the presence of radium, an entirely different element?

By: Dean

Dean — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:48:19 +0000

Head mirrors are for doctors, not pharmacists. Also, what does he need a head mirror for? He’s looking through a microscope, which would presumably have a built-in light. In addition, I don’t think you’d usually use a microscope to test a mineral sample. I think that the head mirror, the microscope and the rack of test tubes are just being used as a shorthand for “SCIENCE!” All he needs is a hunchbacked assistant…