Uranium in a Nutshell

Uranium is an extremely heavy metal, but instead of sinking into the Earths core it is concentrated on the surface. Uranium is found almost exclusively in the Earths continental crust, because its atoms dont fit in the crystal structure of the minerals of the mantle. Geochemists consider uranium one of the incompatible elements, more specifically a member of the large-ion lithophile element or LILE group. Its average abundance, over the whole continental crust, is a bit less than 3 parts per million. Uranium never occurs as bare metal; rather, it most often occurs in oxides as the minerals uraninite (UO2) or pitchblende (partially oxidized uraninite, conventionally given as U3O8). In solution, uranium travels in molecular complexes with carbonate, sulfate and chloride as long as the chemical conditions are oxidizing. But under reducing conditions, uranium drops out of solution as oxide minerals. This behavior is the key to uranium prospecting. Uranium deposits mainly occur in two geologic settings, a relatively cool one in sedimentary rocks and a hot one in granites. Sedimentary Uranium Deposits Because uranium moves in solution under oxidizing conditions and drops out under reducing conditions, it tends to gather where oxygen is absent, such as in black shales and other rocks rich in organic material. If oxidizing fluids move in, they mobilize the uranium and concentrate it along the front of the moving fluid. The famous roll-front uranium deposits of the Colorado Plateau are of this type, dating from the last few hundred million years. The uranium concentrations are not very high, but they are easy to mine and process. The great uranium deposits of northern Saskatchewan, in Canada, are also of sedimentary origin but with a different scenario of much greater age. There an ancient continent was deeply eroded during the Early Proterozoic Era some 2 billion years ago, then was covered by deep layers of sedimentary rock. The unconformity between the eroded basement rocks and overlying sedimentary basin rocks is where chemical activity and fluid flows concentrated uranium into orebodies reaching 70 percent purity. The Geological Association of Canada has published a thorough exploration of these unconformity-associated uranium deposits with full details of this still-mysterious process. At roughly the same time in geologic history, a sedimentary uranium deposit in present-day Africa actually grew concentrated enough that it ignited a natural nuclear reactor, one of Earths neatest tricks. Granitic Uranium Deposits As large bodies of granite solidify, the trace amounts of uranium become concentrated in the last bits of fluid left. Especially at shallow levels, these may fracture and invade surrounding rocks with metal-bearing fluids, leaving veins of ore. More episodes of tectonic activity can concentrate these further, and the worlds largest uranium deposit is one of these, a hematite breccia complex at Olympic Dam in South Australia. Good specimens of uranium minerals are found in the final stage of granite solidification—the veins of large crystals and unusual minerals called pegmatites. There may be found cubic crystals of uraninite, black crusts of pitchblende and plates of uranium-phosphate minerals such as torbernite (Cu(UO2)(PO4)2Â ·8–12H2O). Silver, vanadium and arsenic minerals are also common where uranium is found. Pegmatite uranium is not worth mining today, because the ore deposits are small. But they are where the good mineral specimens are found. The radioactivity of uranium affects the minerals around it. If you are examining a pegmatite, these signs of uranium include blackened fluorite, blue celestite, smoky quartz, golden beryl and red-stained feldspars. Also, chalcedony that contains uranium is intensely fluorescent with a yellow-green color. Uranium in Commerce Uranium is prized for its enormous energy content, which can be harnessed to generate heat in nuclear reactors or unleashed in nuclear explosives. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and other international agreements govern traffic in uranium to ensure that it is used only for civilian purposes. World trade in uranium amounts to more than 60,000 metric tons, all of it accounted for under international protocols. The largest producers of uranium are Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan. The price of uranium has fluctuated with the fortunes of the nuclear power industry and the military needs of various countries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, large stores of enriched uranium have been diluted and sold as nuclear fuel under the Highly Enriched Uranium Purchase Agreement, which kept prices low through the 1990s. As of about 2005, however, prices have been climbing and prospectors are out in the field again for the first time in a generation. And with renewed attention on nuclear power as a zero-carbon energy source in the context of global warming, it is time to become familiar again with uranium.

Effects Of The Industrial Revolution On Children Essay

Throughout the Industrial Revolution, children were used as workers in the factories. They were put through harsh working conditions and dangerous situations. Many times children working would be hurt because they did the dangerous jobs adults could not do. . They were small enough to fit is tight places, and had small hands that could work in the machines; most of these places adults cannot fit. In addition to this, they were payed very little because they were just children. So, overall they were treated as subhuman and â€Å"used† as workers, instead of being fairly treated as a child. These children never got to live their childhood, but went straight to work. In order to document these harsh conditions and try to bring about reform, Lewis Hine photographed children in the mills. He displayed their harsh working conditions to all people to show that children are not living their childhood. In this paper, I will discuss two photographs that Hine took, each of which were taken during the Industrial Revolution and shortly after. They had the initial purpose of reform, but after much circulation and viewing, became an icon to child labor. These images were seen so much that they lost their ability to strike huge change in the people of America, and because a common image to see. However, these images still brought reform even though they caused desensitization in people. This paper will evaluate two pictures and argue three theories of Sontag. These three consistShow MoreRelatedPositive and Negative Effects of Industrial Revolution Essay1043 Words   |  5 PagesPositive and Negative Effects of Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution began in England in the late 1700’s. The Industrial Revolution was a time of new inventions, products, and methods of work. The results of the Industrial Revolution led to many short and long-term positive and negative effects. 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My interest in women of the industrial revolution in the United States, because there are many turning points in the lifestyle of United States women and the Industrial Revolution appears to me to be one of the first steps in the evolution of the roles of women living in the United States. The method used to investigate this life changingRead MoreTaking a Look at the Industrial Revolution1202 Words   |  5 PagesIndustrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution was one of he factors that lead to great development of many countries. The Industrial Revolution’s hearth, the United Kingdom, started the great economic and societal changes that were results of the country’s rapid industrialization. This revolutionary period, lasting from the late 18th Century to the early 19th Century, helped shape today’s world and its effects are still seen. 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Microeconomics for Information Economics and Policy-myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theMicroeconomics for Information Economics and Policy. Answer: Issues: Through peer-to-peer (P2P) networking technology, people distribute and share digital media under the process of peer-to-peer file sharing. In recent years, this sharing technology has earned huge debates from different economical perspectives. According to some economists, this process is economically significant as customers are paying money for purchasing music albums through online. However, economical impact regarding copyright violation within a music industry through peer-to-peer file sharing has remained controversial (Askin and Mol 2018). Moreover, economists have also faced difficulties to determine impact of this file sharing on the revenue of music companies. Based on some unofficial studies, it can be said that file sharing has adversely affected this concerned industry by selling records in an illegal way with a comparatively lower costs (Oberholzer-Gee and Strumpf 2016). Moreover, for this technology, music industry has faced difficulties to analyse any trend related t o its demand and supply, for instance, the trend for purchasing a particular form of music through legal sites cannot be determined under the existence of P-to-P technology. In this context, it can also be mentioned that, due to this increasing number of peer-to-peer file sharing technology, many retail music stores have closed their business for inadequate market demand. Analysis: The situation of music industry can be described with the help of some fundamental economical concepts like demand, supply, consumer surplus and producer surplus. According to some research papers based on this issue, it can be said that the demand for music chiefly depends on its price while some other factors can influence this, as well. For instance, other factors like prices of related products, consumers tastes and income can influence the market demand for recorded music significantly (Bacache-Beauvallet, Bourreau and Moreau 2015). However, to measure the impact of P-2-P file sharing technologies on the market for recorded music, some assumptions are needed to consider. Firstly, prices of recorded music have negative relation with the number of C.D purchase. Secondly, prices of CD have a positive relation with the demand for downloaded music through illegal P-to-P market sharing. Hence, CD and illegally downloaded music can be said as substitute products. Thirdly, prices of ill egal music are low compare to the prices for recorded one. Last but not the least, demand for illegal music have increased because people want to listen this freely before purchasing it from market. Moreover, some people only prefer to listen to music by downloading it from online sites. Those assumptions are drawn from the ethical arguments related to the music industry (Leung 2015). On the other side, due to lack of demand for recorded music, many stores have stopped selling CD, which in turn has decreased the supply of this recorded music within the market. Consequently, prices for those products have increased. On the other hand, consumers have successfully received ample amount of music with very limited price or even freely. This in turn has helped these P-to-P file sharing services to increase its demand. In this context, the concept of consumer surplus along with producer surplus can be described. Consumer surplus measures the difference between price that a consumer wants to pay for consuming the product and price that the concerned person is actually paying, which is, market price (Waldfogel 2017). On the other side, producer surplus measures the difference between price at which the person intends to supply it and the market price at which the supplier is actually supplying it to the customers. As consumer can receive music albums with comparatively cheaper prices through file sharing technology, they can receive higher amount consumer surplus. On the contrary, producers can experience loss within producer surplus due this lower price (Aguiar and Martens 2016). Those economical phenomena can be described with the help of suitable diagrams. Position: Diagrammatical representations can help to support the above mentioned situation appropriately. Figure 1: Demand and supply curve of illegal music and recorded music Source: (created by author) The figure 1 has represented demand and supply curves for both illegal music markets and recorded music markets. Through P-to-P file sharing, supply of music has increased significantly and this in turn has helped the price of illegal music to decrease further. Consequently, market equilibrium for this product has increased from Q0 to Q1 while price has decreased by P0 P1 (Handke, Balazs and Vallb 2016). On the other side, demand for recorded music has decreased by R0R1 unit at the given price P. This happens because at a lower price, people demand more amount of illegal music and this in turn has decreased the demand for its substitute item in the market. The above figure can also determine the amount of consumer surplus and producer surplus. According to this figure, initial amount of consumer surplus is the area of triangle ABP0. However, after fall in price, this amount has become the area of triangle ACP1, which is greater compare to previous one. From this, it can be said that consumers get more amount of surplus. On the other side, producer initial amount of producer surplus is the area of triangle EBP0 and after price change it become the area of triangle FCP1, which is greater compare to the previous one. However, those sellers are related with file sharing market while for actual producers, this amount o surplus has decreased due to higher price and comparatively low demand. Critique: In this context of discussion, some arguments can also occur. For instance, people may use P2P file sharing for listening to the music lower costs. If they like it, then they can buy a recorded version of this music. In addition to this, some customers may find that quality of illegal music is comparatively poor compare to the recorded one (Danaher et al. 2014). This situation leads the demand for recorded music to increase further. However, those phenomena are not strong enough against the view of increasing demand for illegal music. Shutting down of some music stores are the main example of this argument. References: Aguiar, L. and Martens, B., 2016. Digital music consumption on the internet: evidence from clickstream data.Information Economics and Policy,34, pp.27-43. Askin, N. and Mol, J., 2018. Institutionalizing Authenticity in the Digitized World of Music. InFrontiers of Creative Industries: Exploring Structural and Categorical Dynamics(pp. 159-202). Emerald Publishing Limited. Bacache-Beauvallet, M., Bourreau, M. and Moreau, F., 2015. Piracy and creation: The case of the music industry.European Journal of Law and Economics,39(2), pp.245-262. Danaher, B., Smith, M.D., Telang, R. and Chen, S., 2014. The effect of graduated response anti?piracy laws on music sales: evidence from an event study in France.The Journal of Industrial Economics,62(3), pp.541-553. Handke, C., Balazs, B. and Vallb, J.J., 2016. Going means trouble and staying makes it double: the value of licensing recorded music online.Journal of Cultural Economics,40(3), pp.227-259. Leung, T.C., 2015. Music piracy: Bad for record sales but good for the iPod?.Information Economics and Policy,31, pp.1-12. Oberholzer-Gee, F. and Strumpf, K., 2016. The effect of file sharing on record sales, revisited.Information Economics and Policy,37, pp.61-66. Waldfogel, J., 2017. How Digitization Has Created a Golden Age of Music, Movies, Books, and Television.Journal of Economic Perspectives,31(3), pp.195-214.

Macroeconomic Case Studies Essays - Inflation, Price Indices

Macroeconomic Case Studies Economics 001A: Macroeconomics Macroeconomic Case Studies Stephen Rossi Economics 001A: M 6:30-9:15 Slowing the US Economy The article titled 'Fed Unlikely to Alter Course' by John M. Berry of the Washington Post takes an interesting look at actions that Alan Greenspan his colleges of the Federal Reserve have been taking over the last 9 months to slow the economic growth of United States. The astonishing growth rate of 7.3% is fueled by an economy that is in the midst of a high tech revolution. The article also explores the contrasting view of other economists that say that the Fed has increased interest rates too much in its attempts to slow the economy. The means by which Alan Greenspan and the Federal Reserve have chose to slow the economy is through a monetary policy, or more specifically, an increase in the national interest rate. The article states that the Fed officials have come to a broad agreement that they will keep raising the rates until growth slows to a more sustainable pace to make sure inflation stays under control. Because of the booming economy and the investment in the stock market the exchange of money has increased for goods and services, which in turn increases the price level or the quantity of money demanded. By increasing the interest rates the Fed commits itself to adjusting the supply of money in the United States to meet that rate at a point of equilibrium. If the interest rate is increased, less goods and services are demanded, and therefore will slow down the economy and reduce the rate of inflation. The article points out that as stock prices have risen over the last couple of years, so have American ho usehold wealth and consumer spending. This is precisely the cycle that Fed officials want to interrupt to slow growth before it fuels more inflation. At the time this article was written the stock market prices had fallen sharply especially in the technology sector. But the Fed continued on the path to raise interest rates further noting that the index that they closely follow and contains a broader rage of public traded US stocks, the Wilshire 5000, is up for the year. Even though they began raising rates gradually 9 months ago, it takes almost a year for the economy to feel the full effects. In this case the results of the interest rates increased could be felt as last as the second half of 2000. Yet the economy has not slowed down, and the demand for goods and services continues to increase as wealth does. One of the ideas that has been presented to Greenspan by the fed officials was to take bigger steps in raising the interest rates. They feel that this will decrease the money demand in a quicker fashion. In turn these actions will lead to lower consumer spending, and thus decrease the inflation rate. However, because of the erratic patterns in today's high tech economy Greenspan is expected to stick to his pattern of more gradual increases to the interest rate. Eventually when monthly loan payments increase enough, consumers will back on purchases and investments. The article points out an example where the rate for a new 30 year fixed-rate home mortgage is up to 8.5% from 7.75% nine months ago in June. In the situation of a $150,000 home loan, this new interest rate will add almost $100 to each monthly payment. Over time the full effect of the interest rates will be felt. One economist, James Glassman of Chase Securities takes a different look at the new interest rate. He points out that the rates that the Fed has set are fairly high in comparison to the rate of inflation as it is currently in the United States. The formula that Glassman follows examines the inflation rate when food and energy items are excluded because they are so volatile. With these items removed the rate of inflation in the US is less than 2%. As with other measurements, this rate can be subtracted from the interest rates to find a 'real' interest rate which consumers a paying. So in terms of 30-year home mortgage rate set at 8.5%, only 6.5% of it is