You are indeed correct that it the dose would be a lot higher! I kinda forgot that criticality existed... I don't work with nuclear stuff everyday, I do apologize.
Lemme do some research real quick.
The mass would be twice the critical mass of U-235 with 0 reflection, now, would this make an explosion? Probably not? I'm actually not sure, in all likelihood no because it'd rather just melt and spread out into a radioactive goop from all that heat. From what I've read, nothing's keeping it pressured to actually explode but it might light the bag on fire too. Won't kill you instantly though!
On the other hand, that would be a definitively fatal dose at 100% enrichment depending on how much time you spend around it. Considering that this guy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Daghlian was still concerningly alive for quite a while after his block of plutonium went supercritical (and was polite enough to disassemble it so people could exist in the room they were experimenting in), I'd guess the person handling our hypothetical sphere of pure enriched U-235 to also be in the same vein. Exposed to deadly amounts of radiation, but still, very concerningly alive.
So uhh yeah, it'd probably would not stop rapidly being a problem because it would continue exposing you to painful radiation which you couldn't stop but still could experience. Best choice would be to run as far as possible from the sphere.
Radiation kills because it degrades the DNA of your cells and makes anything that needs to multiply a lot very dead. This will not kill you instantly, but it will kill you eventually.
depending on the level of enrichment, a 100kg bag of enriched uranium would rapidly stop being your problem
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After that I'm just imagining Alice scheming to change all of Marisa's birth documents to be younger than hers, a year going down here, the candles on birthday cakes switching there, changing all of Marisa's invitation cards to show the modified age...
Meanwhile Marisa is just happy that Alice seems so enthusiastic to celebrate her birthday with her. Even if they always seem to get the numbers wrong.
"You're making my birthday cards for me, Alice?"
"I'm the one with better handwriting, y'know."
writes down 24 instead of 25
"Hey, I'm a year older than that-"
"Oh, you are?"
"Yeah! I'm sure of it, I was born back in 199X... right?"
"You said that you were turning 24, though."
"I didn't."
"You did, Marisa."
"I... did?"
"Yes, you did."
"Huh... Well, I guess I have been pretty forgetful lately. I couldn't find my library card... or my id's... or my passport. It's really strange."
Shit... they were catching on... she still hasn't finished the forgeries, though.
In the back of her head, she pulled on an invisible thread, ordering her forgery-production-doll-team-thing to hurry up with the documents.
"Oh... I wonder why that's happening? Maybe it's a new incident?"
"It could be."
"In the meantime, let's just focus on your birthday for now, you can always replace your documents later, right?"
"Yeah, I guess you're right, Alice."
"Now, what sort of cake do you want me to make for you?"
"...you're gonna bake my cake too!?"
"...yeah? Didn't we agree to that earlier?"
"Did we- Er- wait... do you- uhm... do chocolate-"
"I think I can. I have a few bars back at home I could use for it. I'll ask my dolls to check."
"Thanks, Alice — Y'know, I... I really don't say that enough sometimes. Even after you help me with my research or have tea with me, I'd just... never say it enough. You're always pretty helpful, aren't you?"
"Well, we're friends, aren't we? We're supposed to help each other."
"I guess so. You're a good friend, Alice!"
Meanwhile in the background, Alice's dolls are just scrambling around the house looking for any marking of Marisa's birthdate and modifying it.
"I'm not—"
Marisa jumps in and hugs her, pulling her from the table.
"Really, I'm being serious. Thank you, Alice. You're a great friend."
Internal gay panic from your kind-of-crush kind-of-not-crush-but-someone-you-love-anyways hugging you ensues.
"I- I- Uhm- I- Yeah- Wh- Er- You're... uhm... a great friend too! Very great! I just wanted to return the favor."
MARISA WAS HUGGING HER! MARISA! Fuck why were they so warm— hugs aren't supposed to feel this nice are they? Maybe? Shit. It... was so comfy though...
"Well, I still want to show my appreciation. You always seem so unsure about yourself sometimes, a bit anxious, but... I know you're a good person at heart."
"Uhm..."
She didn't know what to say, probably because of her higher thought processes being disabled by the fact that they were still hugging her. Arms pressed on her back, softly embracing her...
Getting hugged by Marisa felt nice.
...
But, did she deserve it? After doing all this? Forging their documents, stealing their stuff, lying to them to their face just to seem younger than them?
"Alice? Are you okay? Am I hugging too tightly?"
Marisa was concerned about her, not the missing documents, not the strange things she's been doing, but about her. Their age barely even mattered to them. While she was treating it as if it was a personal insult onto her identity.
Did... did it really matter that she was younger than Marisa?
Than her, the oddly lovable kleptomaniac she called her friend, than the magical partner she had in her studies, than the person who visited her whenever the days got too boring?
What... what was she even doing?
"I- I'm fine, Marisa."
"Is there something wrong? You don't really seem alright..."
She should apologize... right?
"Alice?"
Should she?
"Are you sure you're fine? Do you have a fever or something?"
A cool hand touched her forehead, as a pair of bright, lovely yellow eyes looked at her, worried, trying to see if something was wrong, checking her clothes, looking around her...
They didn't choose to be older than her.
They didn't do anything to deserve her lying to them, did they?
...
"Alice? You—"
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"For everything."
"What do you mean?"
"I... " she mumbled. It was kinda embarrassing to admit out loud. "I... have been lying to you about your birthdate."
"...?"
"I've been changing things, your birth certificate, your id's, your passport, your childhood diary, everything. Just so that you'd be the same age as me."
"...what?"
"You're 24, I'm 23. You're a year older than me."
"...you're serious about this."
She nodded.
"Wow... uh... can... you change everything back?"
"I can."
"Well then, just do that, then problem solved."
"Aren't you angry?"
"Not really. It's kind of funny actually, that'd you'd go so far over such a little thing. No harm was done in the end though, right? Then it's all good with me."
Alice barely resisted the urge to ask for Marisa's hand in marriage.
Barely.
"Let's finish the invitations — Well, re-do the invitations. The party's still a few days away isn't it?"
"Yeah, Marisa. It is."
They sat down around the table, sitting next to each other, and began to work. Silently removing the messed up years with a bit of magic, working on new letters...
Watching as Marisa just focused, with a happily little smile on their face, seemingly unbothered by it all.
Why did she have to fall in love with this girl, really...
idea: Alice listing her age as “Immortal” like a bad fan wiki on official documents to prevent people from finding out that she’s actually younger than Marisa
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