NUCLEAR PHYSICS

• Radioactive - property of several naturally occurring elements as well as of artificially produced isotopes of elements.
• Radioactive decay - the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation.
• Isotopes - atoms with the same number of protons but different number of neutrons.
• udd - more neutrons than protons
• uud - more protons than neutrons
• Protons - positive charged particles located inside the nucleus.
• Electrons - negatively charged particles located along the outside of the nucleus.
• Neutrons - neutral charged particles located inside the nucleus with the protons.
• Quark - smallest particle found within the atomic nucleus.
• Nuclear Reaction - the change in the identity or characteristics of an atomic nucleus, induced by bombarding it with an energetic particle. The bombarding particle maybe an alpha particle, gamma-ray photon, neutron, proton, heavy ion.
• Nuclear Reactions - are processes in which one or more nuclides are produced from a collision between two or more nucleus and a subatomic particle.
• Two general kinds of nuclear reactions: Nuclear decay reactions and Nuclear transmutation reactions.
• The steam will generate the turbine which will create electricity.
• An example of uses of nuclear technology in food and agriculture is irradiation.
• Plant mutation breeding - process of exposing the seeds or cutting of a given plant to a radiation, such as gamma rays, to cause mutations.
• Irradiation is used to kill harmful bacteria to make our foods safer.
• Nuclear Reactor - device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction or a fusion nuclear chain reaction, which generate heat and electricity.
• Moderator - slows the high energy neutrons produced by the fission reaction, and example of this is water.
• Coolant - used to move the heat away from the fission reaction.
• Fusion - a process in which a small nuclei combine to form a larger nuclei.
• Control Rods - they are normally made of boron and cadmium and have the ability to absorb neutrons without fission taking place.
• Fission - splitting of heavy nucleus to a lighter nuclei.
• Fuel - placed in metal tubes and placed closed to one another to form the reactor core.
• Shielding or Shield - it helps prevent radiation leakage.
• Fusion is more advantageous to fission through which it is low cost and abundance of materials, and there is no possibility that fusion can be out of controlled and getting exploded.
• In utilizing fusion in commercial source of energy, scientists have two major problems: Temperature and Confinement
• Magnetic Confinement utilizes the magnetic force experienced by moving charges to increase pressure and temperature to initiate fusion.
• Inertial Confinement - high inertial laser beams cause pellets of deuterium and tritium to implode, resulting to high density and temperature triggering fusion
• Iodine - used to monitor thyroid gland
• Technetium - used to determine blockage in coronary arteries
• Chromium - determining the flow of blood through the heart and diagnosis of anemia
• Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT) - improved version of x-ray
• Radiotherapy involves the use of radioisotopes in treating diseases such as cancer.
• Gamma knife developed by Dr. Lars Leksell in 1968 consists of 201 gamma radiation from cobalt which is used to treat brain malignancies
• In brachytherapy, radioisotopes such as radium, cobalt, gold, cesium, iridium, tantalum, are implanted to cancerous tumors.
• Radiation from cobalt is used to preserve food by killing bacteria.
• Radioisotope thermonuclear generator (RTG) - used to power 24 U.S spacecrafts.
• Americium - ensures uniform thickness of metal sheets and papers. also used in smoke detection.
• Thorium - prolongs life of fluorescent lights
• Sodium - locating leaks in pipelines