Re: [asa] Radioactive decay of U-238 is imminent (just wait a few billion years)

Thanks for drawing attention to this linguistic distinction, Merv.

No thanks, however, for pointing out my typo ("immanence" instead of "imminence"). :)

I guess SOMETHING had to happen to bring me down to earth after Michael's glowing approval, and here 'tis!

Yes, "immanent" and "imminent" are two different words - although one might say the potential for confusion is eminent <smile>

Blessings,
Murray

mrb22667@kansas.net wrote:
> I *thought* I had a handle on what immanence means --which was in part related
> to time. (e.g. the car crash was imminent.) Then, after consulting some
> dictionaries I discover the spelling difference between imminence and immanence;
> the latter of which, apparently has nothing to do with time, but probably
> everything to do with what TEs often talk about. I think I was often confusing
> the two words (& not even realizing they weren't one word.)
>
> Thanks for helping me clarify my vocabulary. (maybe some others had similar
> confusion.)
>
> --Merv
>
>
>
> Quoting Murray Hogg <muzhogg@netspace.net.au>:
>
>> John Burgeson (ASA member) wrote:
>>> I take "imminent" to mean "at any time." No indication in the word as
>>> to whether that time is 10 nanoseconds from now -- or 4 million years.
>> Hi Burgy,
>>
>> It strikes me that a scientific example illustrating the notion of immanence
>> would be radioactive decay.
>>
>> To take the most extreme instance, there is nothing inconsistent with the
>> observation that for any atom of Uranium-238 the decay to Thorium-234 is
>> "imminent" AND with the belief that with a half-life of about 4.5 billion
>> years it's probably not worth sitting around waiting for it to happen!
>>
>> Blessings,
>> Murray
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>

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Received on Thu Jan 22 15:47:15 2009