Nuclear Reactions (11.1 pg 307-311)

The first important discovery in nuclear power was the ability to make a stable isotope radioactive, by shooting it with an alpha particle or with a neutron (neutrons work best since they are not repelled by other nuclei).

This process is called artificial radioactivity This process is called artificial radioactivity. It also allows scientists to make new types of atoms (new elements). Everything past uranium on the periodic table was artificially created by humans!

Here’s an example of artificial radioactivity from your text (magnesium-24 bombarded with high-speed deuterium nuclei):

The effect of radiation on humans is often misused in movies. Radiation causes damage to our DNA, and/or causes errors in DNA replication (Fig.3 p.308).

Replication mistakes can cause cancers and defects (mutations), or can just kill the cell that is affected. Mutations have never proven to be beneficial so sorry, X-men is not gonna happen.

Radiation comes from many places like the Sun, certain minerals in the soil, also from unnatural source like X-rays at the doctors (see Table 1 p.309!)

We measure radiation exposure in a unit called sieverts (sv). It is recommended that you avoid radiation as much as possible. Although we are always exposed to low background levels of radiation, too much can be harmful.

Einstein showed that mass and energy are related through a famous equation: E=mc2 In this equation E = energy, m = mass in kilograms, c=speed of light (3.0x108m/s) The energy released from a small mass can be enormous, which is why nuclear power can provide so much power with so little mass.

PG 311 #1,4,6,7,10,13