How long would it take for the effects of massive radiation to show up?

[Psion]

What's the particularly bad gamma of the Co-60?

I don't remember the energy of the gamma, but what I do recall is that Co-60's gamma is one of the worse ones because it is less affected by shielding and is energetic enough that is causes lots of damage.

I believe radio-cobalt (60) gets the reputation because it's easily produced in a "salted" nuclear bomb and it has a half-life that makes it suited to particularly nasty fallout

That might be why it is known in the popular media, but in the nuclear power industry it is well known because Cobalt is common in most iron alloys (which are used in the piping used to cool the reactor), and it is easily activated to Co-60 in a reactor, and it has a pretty long halflife, which means that its a pretty big contributor to nuclear waste problems.

 

[Zappo]

Huh... so the answer to my "how much would it weigh?" is "very little". But it would also melt in your hands, and blow up in water. Which I figure means it would blow up well enough in blood, too.

Mmm... critical hit = sword explodes, target explodes, wielder takes damage, gory mess everywhere. Sounds fun!

 

[Rel]

Huh... so the answer to my "how much would it weigh?" is "very little".

Well, Zappo, MY answer to your question was "not as much as you might think: only about double" but I'd also hasten to point out that I was extremely wrong and that the "science" I used was poorly thought out junk with little basis in fact that I pulled from a leftover periodic table from my brief days as a ChemE major some 15 years ago. Since then I'm afraid that my interests have run much more heavily toward physics than chemistry and I should have kept my relatively uneducated mouth shut knowing that there are plenty of people here at ENWorld qualified to answer this question properly.

I do however completely agree with Zappo that Exploding Cesium Swords are "cool"!

 

[Darklone]

Perhaps it was a Mercury Greatsword and the crafter accidently took Cesium instead of Mercury ?

 

[Deadguy]

Perhaps it was a Mercury Greatsword and the crafter accidently took Cesium instead of Mercury ?

Oh no, my Caesium Greatsword's solidified! Everyone - group hug! Warm the sword!