> It is for sure an element, not a chemical, so it would have a NMR
> frequency and specific characteristics...have to dig out my CRC manual
> and look it up when I get a moment...
Ah - I was under the impression it was compound rather than element.
Oops. Slipped my head there. According to the whoever originally brought
this up, Bismuth is used in bulletproof armoring and the like.
There's just one problem I have with that -- he said that hitting it with
a hammer doesn't even dent it. I'd like to know how it manages that feat.
Kevlar works its magic by distributing motion over the mass -- acting as
one big shock absorber. But the description of Bismuth indicates that this
metal is very rigid. Bismuth in and of itself probably makes good plating
for armor -- and who knows, if "men from mars" <g> use it to line their
ships, then maybe there's something to it (maybe it absorbs EM over a wide
range of frequencies? that'd make it ideal for building the hull of a
craft to absorb the massive radiation present in space).