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Question: Atomic bomb leaves chemical in wine?

(Posted by: leaping_walrus on 2010-03-09 14:17:57)

I was watching White Collar and they were able to date wine based on the presence of a chemical. They said that after the Atomic bomb was dropped any wine bottled had a chemical not found in nature in it. I was wondering if there was any truth to this, i find it hard to believe, but you never know. I couldnt find anything on google about it. I am most skeptical about the range the radiation will spread. I would be surprised if it could go from Japan to say, the Americas.

Posted by: B on 2010-03-09, 14:20:27

Considering that radiation can pierce through almost anything I find it possible for it to be true.

Posted by: Razz on 2010-03-09, 14:23:13

Here's a link: planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/ news/ story.aspx?id= 203 Apparently it's true for whiskey, so why not for wine?

Posted by: Alex on 2010-03-09, 14:26:00

Apparently it's radioactive carbon released from nuclear weapon testing in the '40s & '50s.

Posted by: Todd on 2010-03-09, 14:33:07

The element Caesium, or Cs, is released by the detonation of nuclear bombs and also emissions from nuclear power plants. It's easily absorbed into the environment, so grapes grown after the 40's would have a markedly different amount of Cs in them than previously. Since the radioactive decay is relatively slow, grapes used to make wine during that period would still have a significant amount of the metal. Or so the theory goes. See... en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Cesium They probably do carbon testing too, but in the show, I believe it was Caesium. Edit... Oops, I meant the decay was relatively _fast_.