Nuclear Physics Essay -- physics nuclear

The Nucleus of an atom consists of protons, and neutrons. A proton has a charge of positive one while a neutron has no electric charge at all and both have a mass of one atomic mass unit. These two particles are known as nucleons. On the outside of the nucleus electrons can be found. These electrons have a charge of negative one and a mass that is negligible because of how small it is compared to the nucleons. The discovery of the electron showed that the atom might have an internal structure. It was originally thought to be a conglomerate or "plum pudding" as it was called. But it was soon discovered using the gold foil experiment. Some of the particles were scattered backwards. Because of these results, it was theorized that the nucleus was like an electron moon orbiting a neutron and proton planet. Using this model, it is easier to understand how the different reactions occur. Radio activity was discovered in 1896 by Henri Becquerel while he was working with compounds that contained uranium. Photographic plates that were used to keep out light because partially exposed when they were brought near any of the compounds that were part uranium. He speculated that the exposure was caused by some form of ray passing through the plates. He also found the some materials other than uranium contained these rays. These materials are said to be radio active. There are three kinds of radiation known as ÃŽ ± alpha, ÃŽ ² beta, and ÃŽ ³ gamma radiation. These were discovered by Enrest Rutherford in 1899. Alpha particles are the nucleus of the He atom, beta particles are high speed electrons and gamma rays are high energy photons. ÃŽ ± Alpha decay is the emission of an He nucleus. Because the alpha particles contai... ...o when the atoms are released they cannot help but mash into each other. This is where all of the extra energy comes from which causes the explosion. Hydrogen Bombs The hydrogen bomb is much more powerful than the atomic bomb. The actual trigger for the bomb is not TNT but instead an actual atomic bomb. The H-Bomb is made up of two different kinds of isotopes of hydrogen, deuterium and tritium. Smaller atomic bombs trigger the finale explosion for the Hydrogen bomb. Like the TNT, they compress the two isotopes into a very dense mass which initiates fusion, producing great amounts of energy. The actual bomb casing is made out of uranium. When the inside of the bomb detonates its causes the casing to undergo fission which causes even more energy to be released. The fusion reactions produces a fission reaction which totals up to a huge amount of energy.