Divinity Atlas
Things this atlas does not know. Each entry is a question that specialists
have posed and not settled, recorded with what would actually resolve it and which
expertise the answer needs.
These are kept deliberately, rather than quietly omitted. An atlas that shows
only what it is sure of implies a confidence it has not earned, and the gaps are often where
the interesting work is. Several sit exactly where two fields fail to meet: identifying the
hyssop of the Hebrew Bible needs a botanist and a philologist of Biblical Hebrew, and neither
one settles it alone.
You can send evidence on some of these. A pilot is open on 55 questions in one field, Palaeography. Each says what would resolve it; send something that meets that bar, with a source anybody can check, and an editor will weigh it. Sending evidence does not guarantee the question will be resolved, and it does not have to be your field to read what is being asked. See what is open.
Grouped by the part of the atlas the question sits in. Start here if you know the territory better than the technique.
Filter By Specialty 99 fields, 1 selected
Showing 1 of 608 questions, filtered to 1 specialty.
Metaphysics & Matter 1
Thulium
Is thulium or lutetium the least abundant of the naturally occurring lanthanides?
Open Thulium
Why It Is Open Published crustal abundance estimates put both at roughly half a part per million, and the two sit within the uncertainty of each other. Sources disagree about which is lower, and several simply assert one without stating a figure.
What Would Settle It A modern determination of both abundances by the same method with stated uncertainties, so the comparison is like for like.
Expertise Needed Geochemistry, specifically crustal abundance measurement.
Question posed in
Rare Earth Elements: Critical Resources for High Technology, Gordon B. Haxel, James B. Hedrick and Greta J. Orris, Pages 2 and 4.