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Unit Information
Atomic history and radioactivity corresponds to chapters 5 and 18 in the text Foundations of College Chemistry by Hein and Arena.  As review for the test, try the blue problems at the end of chapter 18 - pages 492-494.
Handouts

Determining the number of particles in an atom and weighted averages.

Problems on radioactive decay and half-lives.

Decay Series

Lab handouts - Isotopes | Radioactive Decay

An E=mc2 problem solved: Part 1 | Part 2 If you want more problems - click on the periodic table link above and select a random element.  Scroll down to isotopes and use the mass information to calculate the mass defect and binding energy for that particle.  The binding energy is given in the final column of that table.

Cathode Ray Tube
An introduction to the cathode ray tube. Excellent video showing the results of Thomson's experiment with the cathode ray tube and a magnet.
Gold Foil Experiment
Animations that describe how Rutherford performed the gold foil experiment.

Flash animation that extensively describes Rutherford's gold foil experiment and contrasts what he expected based on Thomson's "plum pudding model' with what he actually observed.
Video Clips
These videos are in the public domain, so you are free to download and view them.

A is for Atom − Clearly produced by a pro-nuclear energy contingent, this video does give a great visual introduction to nuclear fission and the radioactivity of the elements.

Duck and Cover − 1951 video from the Federal Civil Defense Administration.  Cold War filmmaking at its best.

Daisy Girl Ad − Controversial 1964 campaign ad for incumbent President Lyndon Johnson.  It was only aired once and it has been interpreted by some that the ad implied challenger Barry Goldwater would lead the United States into a nuclear war.

Tale of Two Cities − Made in 1946, the commentary in this video shows an anti-Japanese bias.  However, the images of the destruction in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (note the factory windows and "shadows" in particular) provide viewers with visual evidence of the only nuclear attacks in human history.

Atomic Bomb Website − from Visual Concept Entertainment.  This group has produced some well done nuclear weapon related videos (as well as commercial releases) including the acclaimed Trinity and Beyond.

Websites
All of these links open up the websites listed in a new window.

Nuclear Weapons:

  1. The Nuclear Weapons Archive ‒ a primer for any discussion on the chemistry and global nature of nuclear weapons.  Stay with the scientific material, but you may want to check out some of the pictures on the site.  They are at times awesome and at others horrific, but will be sure to stimulate your emotions in one way or another.
  2. The Radiation Effects Research Foundation is dedicated to studying the effects if radiation on survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings.
  3. The Effects of Nuclear Weapons an online edition of a book prepared by the United States Department of Defense and the Energy Research and Development Administration.
  4. Photographs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki be forewarned, some of them are disturbing.  Brought to you by the Japan Congress Against A- and H-Bombs.

Three Mile Island Fact sheet prepared by the Nuclear Regulatory Council on the Three Mile Island incident of 1979.

Chernobyl:

  1. A Washington Post story from 2002 on the status of Chernobyl's power plant
  2. This page provides a synopsis of the event and further links on the incident.

Nuclear Energy:

  1. An Energy Information Administration page that will get you started on American nuclear energy statistics.
  2. Information sheet from the EIA about New Jersey's nuclear energy usage.
  3. The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Electronic Reading Room
  4. Marvin L. Adams of Texas A&M wrote this article hosted by the National Academy of Engineering.  It considers many factors (e.g. time, land space) and provides a succinct comparison of various energy sources.
  5. Uranium maps from the World Information Service on Energy's Uranium Project.

Nuclear Medicine:

  1. What is a PET scan?  This may be a little heavy for some, but it's worth it to check it out.
  2. More on radioisotopes in medicine.

Did you find a good link that is NOT an encyclopedia entry?  Tell me about it.

Further Reading
Accredited online universities provide courses about chemistry, radiation and the atomic history. These require tuition, however, so  also consider the books below to learn more.
(1) Castelvecchi, David.  Just How Small Is the Proton?  Scientific American, October 2010, p 24.
(2) Grimes, Robin W. and Nuttall, William J. Science. 2010, 329, 799-803.
(3) Long, Michael E.  Half-Life: The Lethal Legacy of America's Nuclear Waste.  National Geographic, July 2002, pp 2-33.
(4) Reed, Cameron. From Treasury Vault to the Manhattan Project. American Scientist. 2011, 99, 40-47.
(5) Smith, Timothy Paul. The Anatomy of a Neutron. American Scientist. 2010, 98, 478-485.
(6) Wald, Matthew L.  What Now for Nuclear Waste?  Scientific American, August 2009, pp 46-53.

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Last update: Monday, June 20, 2011