engleski

Analysis of an object assumed to contain 'Red Mercury'

After being informed about an attempt of illicit trafficking, custom security confiscated a metal cylinder told to contain Red Mercury. Object had following physical characteristics: height - 54.3 mm ; base diameter - 19.8 mm ; weight - 0.1106 kg ; average density of the object - 6615 kg/m3. The cylinder when shaken acted as it was filled with a liquid substance of high density. Reports of the trafficking of Red Mercury, claimed to have the composition Hg2Sb2O7, have been circulating for many years. Red Mercury was touted as a mediator in nuclear weapons design, particularly as an essential ingredient in pure-fusion weapons. What was only proved about Red Mercury was that it was the Russian code name for the production of Li6D - a legitimate component of thermonuclear weapons. Even though the « Red Mercury» has been widely discredited in recent years, the "market" for it still appears. The sample assumed to contain Red Mercury had been analyzed with two nondestructive analytical methods in order to obtain information about the nature of the investigated object: activation analysis with 14.1 MeV neutron and XRF analysis. Activation analysis with 14.1 MeV neutrons had shown that the container and its content were characterized by following chemical elements: Hg, Fe, Cr and Ni. By using XRF analysis it was shown that elements Fe, Cr and Ni were constituents of the capsule. Therefore it was concluded that these three elements were present in the capsule only, while the content of unknown sample inside was Hg. Antimony as a hypothetical component of red mercury had not been detected.

Red Mercury; illicit trafficking; FNAA; EDXRF

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