[AR] Re: LEO radiation shielding
- From: Henry Spencer <hspencer@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: Arocket List <arocket@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 5 Dec 2019 16:59:49 -0500 (EST)
On Thu, 5 Dec 2019, I wrote:
...Not only is lead awkwardly soft (although some lead alloys are
stronger), but it's not nearly as dense as tungsten...
A minor elaboration here: Tungsten is about the densest thing you can buy
at a sane price. Its density is similar to gold or uranium, and the only
things that are significantly denser are grossly-expensive platinum-group
metals. It's unfortunately difficult to work with -- terribly hard,
somewhat brittle, so heat-resistant that welding is impractical, etc.
Tantalum isn't quite as dense, but rather more tractable, and still denser
than lead.
Henry
Other related posts: