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 α alpha, β beta, and γ 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.
α
Alpha decay is the emission of an He nucleus. Because the alpha particles contai...
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...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.
In "Energy Story" uses an explanation of atoms and tells us the parts of an atom and its structure. In the text it
The first H-bomb was detonated with the force of ten megatons, more that several hundred times the power of the A-bomb.
In a fusion, two atoms’ nuclei join to create a much heavier nucleus.1 The two atoms collide and together make a new atom while releasing neutrons in the form of energy. Imagine this as two cars in a head-on collision. When they collide, they stick together (not forming a new atom like in nuclear fusion, but let’s pretend,) and when they crash, some of the bumper flies off. The atoms collide and neutrons, like the bumper, fly off in the form of energy.
Atomic Bomb The use of the atomic bombs on Japan was necessary for the revenge of the Americans. These bombs took years to make due to a problematic equation. The impact of the bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people and the radiation is still killing people today. People today still wonder why the bombs were dropped. If these bombs weren’t dropped on the Japanese the history of the world would have been changed forever. The Atomic bomb took 6 years to develop (1939-1945) for scientists to work on a equation to make the U-235 into a bomb. The most complicated process in this was trying to produce enough uranium to sustain a chain reaction. The bombs used on the cities cost about $2 billion to develop, this also making the U.S. wanting to use them against Japan. “Hiroshima was a major military target and we have spent 2 billion dollars on the greatest scientific gamble in history- and won.” (3) The bomb dropped on Hiroshima weighted 4.5 tons and the bomb used on Nagasaki weighted 10 kilotons. On July 16, 1945, the first ever atomic bomb was tested in the Jamez Mountains in Northern New Mexico, code named “Gadget.” The single weapon ultimately dropped on Hiroshima, nicknamed “Little Boy,” produced the amount of approximately twenty- thousand tons of TNT, which is roughly seven times greater than all of the bombs dropped by all the allies on all of Germany in 1942. The first Japanese City bomb was Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. An American B-29 bomber, named Enola Gay, flown by the pilot Paul W. Tibbets, dropped the “Little Boy” uranium atomic bomb. Three days later a second bomb named ”Fat Boy,” made of plutonium was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki. After being released, it took approximately one minute for Little Boy to reach the point of explosion, which was about 2,000 feet. The impact of the bombs on the cities and people was massive. Black rain containing large amounts of nuclear fallout fell as much as 30km from the original blast site. A mushroom cloud rose to twenty thousand feet in the air, and sixty percent of the city was destroyed. The shock wave and its reverse effect reached speeds close to those of the speed of sound. The wind generated by the bombs destroyed most of the houses and buildings within a 1.
The USA’s new weapon, the Hydrogen bomb, or H-bomb, was one of the most powerful weapons of the time. In 1950, the H-bomb was tested in the Eniwetok Atoll, Marshall Islands (Cold War History). The reaction was so fierce, the explosion wiped the island off the face of the earth, leaving a crater on the ocean floor. The explosion reached a range of 25 square miles and had a mushroom cloud which dropped radioactive fallout on the surrounding areas (The Cold War Museum). This new weapon scared the Soviet Union into creating their own bombs.
supplied by the uranium in sea water for 7 million years(Energy 25). This is a
The atomic bomb is a powerful, explosive nuclear weapon. It is fueled by the fission of the nuclei of specific amounts of plutonium or uranium, in a chain reaction. The strength of the explosion created by one of these bombs is equal to the strength of an explosion created by thousands of tons of TNT.
An atom, by definition, is the smallest part of any substance. The atom has three main components that make it up: protons, neutrons, and electrons. The protons and neutrons are within the nucleus in the center of the atom. The electrons revolve around the nucleus in many orbitals. These orbitals consist of many different shapes, including circular, spiral, and many others. Protons are positively charged and electrons are negatively charged. Protons and electrons both have charge of equal magnitude (i.e. 1.602x10-19 coulombs). Neutrons have a neutral charge, and they, along with protons, are the majority of mass in an atom. Electron mass, though, is negligible. When an atom has a neutral charge, it is stable.
The nuclear bomb was the most devastating weapon ever created by man. It was developed between 1942 and 1945 during the second World War. The project to build the worlds first atomic weapon was called The Manhattan Project. The nuclear bomb was based on the idea of splitting an atom to create energy, this is called fission. Three bombs were created, “Trinity”, “Little Boy”, and “Fat Man”. “Trinity” was dropped on a test site in New Mexico on July 16, 1945, proving the theories, engineering and mathematics of the bomb to be correct. Shortly after that, not more than 2 months, the U.S. performed the first actual nuclear attack in the history of war. The bomb “Little Boy” was dropped on the town of Hiroshima, instantly killing thousands. “Fat Man” was dropped shortly after on the town of Nagasaki. After the bombing almost all scientist involved with the creation of the bomb regretted its construction and spoke out against the abolishment of nuclear weapons.
Gamma radiation/emission – Gamma ray emission can be found when either alpha or beta decay occurs. Gamma rays are high energy electromagnetic rays. Gamma radiation is just the excess energy of the reaction being shed off, gamma rays do not effect mass numbers or atomic numbers. 6027Co 6028Ni + 0-1e + y
Wilhelm Roentgen discovered radiation which is also known as x-ray in 1895. Radiation is energy turned into waves or particles in
The next big step in the discovery of the atom was the scientific test that proved the existence of the atom. After the discovery of the atom we had the discovery of subatomic particles. With the discovery of the subatomic particles came the research, which came from experiments that were made to find out more about the subatomic particles. This research is how we uncovered that most of the weight of an atom is from its nucleus. With the gold foil experiment, tested by Ernest Rutherford, he discovered the existence of the positively charged nucleus. He proved this when the experiment was happening, a small fraction of the photons th...
The Industrial Revolution sparked a need for large sources of energy. Human and animal labor could not provide the power necessary to power industrial machinery, railroads, and ships. The steam engine and later the internal combustion engine provided the bulk of the energy required by the industrial age. Today most nations are still heavily reliant on energy that comes from combustion. Usually coal, petrolium, and natural gas are used. Some hydroelectric, wind power, and nuclear fission sources are used, but in the US they accounted for less than 20% of the total energy consumption in 1997 (1). Many experts are worried that natural resources such as coal and petrolium are being depleted faster than they are being replenished, which could result in an energy crisis. Nuclear fission produces highly radioactive waste that is expensive to dispose of properly. Nuclear fusion reactors would produce much less radioactive waste and would be more efficient than nuclear fission, but to date there have been no nuclear fusion reactors that have generated usable energy output. Why is fusion power, which could be very beneficial, so hard to come by?
The hydrogen bomb, a stronger version of nuclear bomb, which uses a fission bomb to ignite thermonuclear fuel, marked a new and extremely important stage in the nuclear arms race. Truman’s super bomb took over two years to complete. On November 1, 1952, the United States detonated the first hydrogen bomb on the pacific atoll of Eniwetok. The Soviet Union did not left far behind. Nine months later, on August 12, 1953 it tested an intermediate type of hydrogen bomb.
Scientists from earlier times helped influence the discoveries that lead to the development of atomic energy. In the late 1800’s, Dalton created the Atomic Theory which explains atoms, elements and compounds (Henderson 1). This was important to the study of and understanding of atoms to future scientists. The Atomic Theory was a list of scientific laws regarding atoms and their potential abilities. Roentagen, used Dalton’s findings and discovered x-rays which could pass through solid objects (Henderson 1). Although he did not discover radiation from the x-rays, he did help lay the foundations for electromagnetic waves. Shortly after Roentagen’s findings, J.J. Thompson discovered the electron which was responsible for defining the atom’s characteristics (Henderson 2). The electron helped scientists uncover why an atom responds to reactions the way it does and how it received its “personality”. Dalton’s, Roentagen’s and Thompson’s findings helped guide other scientists to discovering the uses of atomic energy and reactions. Such applications were discovered in the early 1900’s by using Einstein’s equation, which stated that if a chain reaction occurred, cheap, reliable energy could b...