Sunday, May 26

Iintroduction to Nuclear Physics


Introduction to nuclear physics:

Matter, right from a tiny speck of dust to a gigantic cosmic entity consists  of atoms. An atom consists of a central part called nucleus around which electrons will revolve. Another question comes to our mind is that whether a nucleus too have a structure like an atom? If so, what is the nature of its constituents and how are they held together in the nucleus? In unfolding such series of questions, a separate branch in physics called  Nuclear physics has evolved.Having problem with Linear Speed Formula keep reading my upcoming posts, i will try to help you.


Introduction to Nuclear Physics by Henri Becquerel


The year 1896, marks the beginning of nuclear physics. It is in this year, the French physicist Henri Becquerel discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity in one of he Uranium compounds, quite accidentally. The phenomenon of radioactivity refers to a particular type of invisible radiation emerging from certain specific substances. At first sight, this radiation was quite puzzling for scientists. Later on the experiments conducted by Ernst Rutherford and others proved that this radiation consists of alpha, beta and gamma rays. This rays were found to be originating in the  nucleus. The experiments conducted by Geiger and Ernst  Marsden, at the suggestion of Rutherford in 1911, involving the scattering of alpha particles have revealed that there exists a positively charged nucleus at the centre of each atom. It was James Chadwick's discovery of neutron in 1932 that clinched the issue of nuclear structure.


Conclusion on Introduction to Nuclear Physics


After the discovery of neutron Werner Heisenberg proposed that the nucleus consists of neutrons and protons. The discovery of artificial radioactivity in 1933 and nuclear fission in 1938, development of first controlled fission reactor in 1942 are some of the important milestones in the field of nuclear physics.

More recently, the scientists are focusing on the nature of nuclear forces and are trying to integrate electro weak force ( which resulted after integrating electromagnetic force and weak nuclear force) ,  strong nuclear force and gravitational force.

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