On Monday, February 3, 2003, at 09:18 AM, Thomas Shaddack wrote:
Tf they ingested a part made of beryllium alloy, it could make them pretty...and some very, very tiny fraction may have actually touched some component which made them slightly ill.
sick...
First, if they are eating shuttle debris, think of it as evolution in action.
Second, beryllium is not much used in the mostly-aluminum shuttle. Web sites say some of the brake assemblies use beryllium and its alloys.
Third, it would take longer for someone who ate a shuttle part to feel sick, due to Be or any other metal poisoning, than we saw on Saturday. I vote for the "sympathetic magic" theory.
(As it happens, one of my first engineering assignments, in 1974, was working on a BeO alternative to Al2O3/alumina for packages. Berylliosis was a concern for the _manufacturing_ of the packages from pressed powder, but touching or licking or whatever the finished packages was not an issue.)
--Tim May
