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This undated synopsis from the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) reports on Oak Ridge National Laboratory's analysis of a layered magnesium-zinc specimen with bismuth bands. The specimen is claimed to come from a UAP crash around 1947, and some say it can reduce inertial mass. Using microscopy, spectroscopy and isotope analysis, ORNL found that the bismuth could not have acted as a terahertz waveguide. It concluded that the material was manufactured on Earth and later damaged by heat and mechanical stress.
Synopsis: Analysis of a Metallic Specimen5 Figure 5. Laser ablation ICP-MS elemental maps. (Top) Colocation of lead (green), bismuth (blue), and zinc (red), the three primary minor elements in the material. Blending of colors indicates co-location: teal indicates the nearly 1:1 ratio of lead to bismuth. (Bottom) Elemental map of bismuth concentration (hot [yellow] = more, cool [purple] = less). Bismuth is most concentrated at the top but is present in many repeating layers. Isotope Analysis Multicollector ICP-MS analysis showed that the specimen’s magnesium and lead isotope composition is consistent with other materials manufactured and used terrestrially (Figures 6 and 7). Isotopes are varying forms of the same element with differing mass, and their proportions affect the chemical properties of and reveal information about the history of the material within which the isotopes are found. All elements have isotopes, and the ratio between the amounts of various isotopes is called the isotopic signature, which is akin to a fingerprint in chemical analyses. The magnesium isotopic signature of the specimen is fractionated (possibly owing to the mechanical and heat strain that the material appears to have undergone) but falls within normal terrestrial compositions and precisely within the expected trendlines of fractionation (Figure 6). Each star system has a magnesium isotopic composition that was inherited from its local star-forming region. Figure 6 shows the magnesium isotopic signature of various materials originating within our solar system. The straight lines in the bottom graphic representation are the kinetic and equilibrium mass fractionation trendlines, which define the types of isotopic shifts incurred on the basis of mass. Fractionation occurs due to chemical reactions and physical processes (e.g., manufacturing and mining) and is normal during the lifespan of natural and manufactured materials and their components. The materials in Figure 6—including the specimen—fall on or near the fractionation trendlines, strongly indicating that their starting compositions were once the same and have been systematically changed as a result of mass fractionation. If a ma- terial originated outside our solar system, its magnesium isotopic signature could plot nearly anywhere in the top graphic representation of Figure 6—instead, the specimen’s data plots it precisely within the expected fractionation trendlines for known compositions specific to our solar system. Less complexly, the lead isotopic signature of this specimen is fully consistent with “common lead” compositions that exist naturally on Earth and within terrestrial materials (Figure 7), distinctly separate from even lunar materials, indicating it is extremely likely that the material originated on Earth.
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Report, from the aaro collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 10 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.