10 | January | 2014 | ferrebeekeeper

UC San Diego Triton

This week Ferrebeekeeper has been all about Tritons: we published posts on 1) The retrograde ice moon of Neptune; 2) the giant starfish-eating gastropod; and 3) the Greek merman god. The only major definition of triton left is the nucleus of a tritium atom which has one proton and two neutrons (as opposed to a normal hydrogen atom which has one proton and NO neutrons). Tritium is very important in nuclear engineering and could be critical to the development of nuclear fusion reactors—an effort which I regard as being of paramount importance to getting humankind moving forward. Unfortunately, I am no nuclear engineer, so you will have to research tritium elsewhere.

Although the concept of deuterium-tritium fusion is succinctly explained by this necktie…

What I did discover is that, for some reason, Triton is incredibly popular as a mascot. Numerous semi-professional and school teams have a triton (a merman) as a mascot. Is it because the figure is solemn and powerful? Is this a last breath of Greek polytheism blowing through America’s high schools and colleges? Do people simply love mermen? I have no idea, but for a lighthearted Friday post, here is a gallery of Triton mascots.