[–] 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Sure, but just because it's chock full of Hydrogen, which happens to be about the same mass as a neutron and thus takes up a lot of its energy per collision. Plastic, being a hydrocarbon, does the same thing.

That being said, water is pretty cool. You could use 2 inches of lead to stop 90% of gamma radiation, or 2 feet of water for the same effect. On top of that, metal is terrible at slowing neutrons (due to metal not being hydrogen), but that same 2 feet of water will slow down the neutrons by about 99.5%.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 months ago

    The aircraft carriers prior to the Ford used steam catapults. Nuclear reactor plants make plenty of steam, and American carriers all have at least two.

    That being said, a redesign to support steam catapults in the Ford class is asinine. The electromagnetic ones were a core design feature, and years of work went into making them reliable.

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  • [–] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Cream of tartar is a type of acid, and is usually used in baking as along with baking soda as a leavener. Baking powder is generally just baking soda and cream of tartar mixed together, but some recipes call for adding them separately in different ratio then you would find in baking powder.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    Many early Nazi's were also paradoxically Zionist. They believed that the best way to get rid of the Jewish people was to just send them all somewhere else, and a Jewish state would be an easy place to convince them to go.

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