Atoms from deep space found on Earth! Where are they coming from?

Presented by ANU College of Science

Everything on Earth is made of atoms, most of the atoms have been around since the Earth was formed, but some are man-made.

One type of atom is Plutonium, which does not exist naturally on Earth. However, about 80 years ago, people produced Plutonium in nuclear explosions, and a tiny amount of it was spread around the world during the last century.

We have found some plutonium deep down in the ocean that was not man-made, but instead came from outer space - but how do we know this?

Join us, as we discuss our search for Plutonium from out of this world, how much are we have been able to find, and how we know where it is coming from.

Suitable ages: 6 -12+.

But if you're older and interested, join anyway!

Timezone: Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne [AEST]

About Michaela

Dr Michaela Froehlich is a passionate chemist at the Research School of Physics at the Australian National University.

Originally from Austria, she obtained a PhD in chemistry from the University of Vienna in 2011, and now relishes working in multidisciplinary fields such as environmental chemistry, nuclear physics and astrophysics.

Her main research focuses on actinides in the environment and their applications through the use of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry; a single atom counting technique.

More recently, she is working on characterising and quantifying radio-impurities in detector materials, which will be used in an attempt to find and measure Dark Matter.

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