Radioactivity

History, Science, Vital Uses and Ominous Peril

3rd Edition - August 1, 2022
Imprint: Elsevier
Author: Michael F. L'Annunziata
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 0 4 4 0 - 7
Hardback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 4 4 3 - 1 5 8 2 7 - 8
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 8 4 4 7 - 8

Radioactivity: History, Science, Vital Uses and Ominous Peril, Third Edition provides an introduction to radioactivity, the building blocks of matter, the fundamental forces in… Read more

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Radioactivity: History, Science, Vital Uses and Ominous Peril, Third Edition provides an introduction to radioactivity, the building blocks of matter, the fundamental forces in nature, and the role of quarks and force carrier particles. This new edition adds material on the dichotomy between the peaceful applications of radioactivity and the threat to the continued existence of human life from the potential use of more powerful and sophisticated nuclear weapons. The book includes a current review of studies on the probability of nuclear war and treaties, nonproliferation and disarmament, along with historical insights into the achievements of over 100 pioneers and Nobel Laureates.

Through multiple worked examples, the book answers many questions for the student, teacher and practitioner as to the origins, properties and practical applications of radioactivity in fields such as medicine, biological and environmental research, industry, safe nuclear power free of greenhouse gases and nuclear fusion.

Ratings and Reviews of Previous Editions:

CHOICE Magazine, July 2008: "This work provides an overview of the many interesting aspects of the science of radioactive decays, including in-depth chapters that offer reminiscences on the history and important personalities of the field...This book can be useful as supplemental reading or as a reference when developing course material for nuclear physics, nuclear engineering, or health physics lectures. Special attention　has been given to a chapter on the role radioactivity plays in everyday　life applications...Generally the book is well produced and will be a valuable resource...Many lectures can be lightened up by including material from this work. Summing up: RECOMMENDED. Upper division undergraduates through professionals; technical program students." U. Greife, Colorado School of Mines, USA

"I found the biographical accounts of the various stalwarts of Physics inspirational. Most of them, if not all, had to overcome economic hardships or p[ersonal tragedies or had to do their groundbreaking　work in the face of tyranny and war. The biographies also highlighted the high standards of moral convictions that the scientists had as they realized the grave implications of some of their work and the potential threats to humanity. This ought to inspire and motivate young men and women aspiring to be physicists. Even people who have been in the field for a while should find your book re-energizing. It certainly had that effect on me."

-- Dr. Ramkumar Venkataraman, Canberra Industries, Inc., Meriden, CT, USA

Winner of an Honorable Mention in the 2017 PROSE Awards in the category of Chemistry and Physics (https://proseawards.com/winners/2017-award-winners/ )

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
About the cover illustration
Copyright
Dedication
Foreword
Preface to the first edition
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the third edition
About the author
Acronyms, abbreviations and symbols
Prologue A: Radioactivity/Nuclear Technology and our Well-being
Part I. History of discovery
Chapter 1. Birth of Modern Physics: from the discovery of radioactivity to the discovery of the proton, electron, and atomic nucleus
1.1. Wilhelm C. Röntgen (1845–1923)
1.2. Henri Becquerel (1852–1908)
1.3. Pierre Curie (1859–1906) and Marie Curie (1867–1934)
1.4. Ivan Pavlovich Puluj (a.k.a Johann Puluj, 1845–1918)
1.5. Paul Villard (1860–1934)
1.6. Ernest Rutherford (1871–1937)
1.7. Johannes “Hans” Geiger (1881–1945)
1.8. Jean B. Perrin (1870–1942)
1.9. Joseph John Thomson (1856–1940)
1.10. Francis W. Aston (1877–1945)
1.11. Hantaro Nagaoka (1865–1950)
1.12. James Clerk Maxwell (1831–1879)
1.13. Pieter Zeeman (1865–1943)
Chapter 2. Birth of Quantum Physics: from Planck's quantum to Einstein's photon, de Broglie's wave-particle duality, and Stern and Gerlach's electron spin states
2.1. Max Planck (1858–1947)
2.2. Louis de Broglie (1892–1987)
2.3. Albert Einstein (1879–1955)
2.4. Hendrik A. Lorentz (1853–1928)
2.5. Clinton Davisson (1881–1958) and George Paget Thomson (1892–1975)
2.6. Niels Bohr (1885–1962)
2.7. Werner Heisenberg (1901–1976), Erwin Schrödinger (1887–1961), Max Born (1882–1970), and Paul A.H. Dirac (1902–1984)
2.8. Otto Stern (1888–1969)
2.9. Robert A. Millikan (1868–1953) and Harvey Fletcher (1884–1981)
Chapter 3. Revelations in Nuclear Decay Processes: from Soddy's displacement law to Pauli's neutrino in beta decay
3.1. Frederick Soddy (1877–1956)
3.2. Frédéric Joliet (1900–1958) and Irène Joliet-Curie (1897–1956)
3.3. Wolfgang Pauli (1900–1958)
3.4. Frederick Reines (1918–1998) and Clyde L. Cowan, Jr. (1919–1974)
3.5. Chen-Ning Yang (1922−), Tsung-Dao Lee (1926−), and Chien-Shiung Wu (1912–1997)
3.6. Willard F. Libby (1908–1980)
Chapter 4. Discoveries on the Interaction of Radiation with Matter: from X-ray diffraction to the Compton Effect
4.1. Henry G.J. Moseley (1887–1915)
4.2. Charles Glover Barkla (1877–1944)
4.3. C.T.R. Wilson (1869–1959)
4.4. Arthur H. Compton (1892–1962)
4.5. Wu Youxun (1897–1977)
4.6. Max von Laue (1879–1960)
4.7. Sir William Henry Bragg (1862–1942) and Sir William Lawrence Bragg (1890–1971)
4.8. Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958)
4.9. Manne Siegbahn (1886–1978)
4.10. Homi J. Bhabha (1909–1966)
Chapter 5. Era of Cherenkov Radiation Discoveries: from the discovery of Cherenkov radiation to the characterization of the Cherenkov Effect
5.1. Sergei Ivanovich Vavilov (1891–1951)
5.2. Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov (1904–1990)
5.3. Il'ja Mikhailovich Frank (1908–1990) and Igor Yevgenyevich Tamm (1895–1971)
Chapter 6. Era of Cosmic Radiation Discoveries: from the discovery of cosmic rays to the component particles and properties of cosmic radiation showers
6.1. Victor F. Hess (1883–1964)
6.2. Carl D. Anderson (1905–91)
6.3. Patrick M. S. Blackett (1897–1974)
6.4. Hideki Yukawa (1907–1981)
6.5. Cecil F. Powell (1903–1969)
6.6. Pierre Victor Auger (1899–1993)
6.7. Manuel Sandoval Vallarta (1899–1977)
Chapter 7. Nuclear Era: from the discovery of the neutron to nuclear fission, nuclear energy, and nuclear nonproliferation
7.1. James Chadwick (1891–1974)
7.2. Lise Meitner (1878–1968) and Otto Hahn (1879–1968)
7.3. Enrico Fermi (1901–1954)
7.4. Leo Szilard (1898–1964)
7.5. Eugene P. Wigner (1902–1995)
7.6. Hans A. Bethe (1906–2005)
7.7. Edwin M. McMillan (1907–1991)
7.8. Glenn T. Seaborg (1912–1999)
7.9. Gustav Hertz (1887–1975) and James Franck (1882–1964)
7.10. The Franck Report, June 11, 1945: James Franck (Chairman)
7.11. The Frank–Hertz experiment
7.12. Yoshio Nishina (1890–1951)
7.13. Joseph Rotblat (1908–2005) and the Pugwash Conferences
7.14. The Russell–Einstein Manifesto, London, July 9, 1955
7.15. Edward Teller (1908–2003)
Chapter 8. Breakthroughs in Nuclear Properties, Nuclear Stability, and Accelerators: from magic numbers to magnetic resonance, and the discovery of the antinucleons
8.1. Maria Goeppert-Mayer (1906–72) and J. Hans D. Jensen (1907–73)
8.2. Isidor Isaac Rabi (1898–1988)
8.3. Important developments from Rabi's work on nuclear magnetic resonance
8.4. John D. Cockcroft (1897–1967) and Ernest T.S. Walton (1903–95)
8.5. Marcus L.E. Oliphant (1901–2000)
8.6. Ernest O. Lawrence (1901–58)
8.7. Emelio G. Segrè (1905–1989) and Owen Chamberlain (1920–2006)
8.8. Richard P. Feynman (1918–88)
Chapter 9. Era of Particle Physics and the Role of Fundamental Particles in Beta Decay: from the discovery of particles, advances in our understanding of particle interactions and beta decay to the structure of matter
9.1. Donald A. Glaser (1926–2013)
9.2. Luis W. Alvarez (1911–88)
9.3. Murray Gell-Mann (1929–2019) and Kazuhiko Nishijima (1926–2009)
9.4. George Zweig (1937–)
9.5. Oscar Wallace Greenberg (1932–), Moo-Young Han (1934–2016), and Harald Fritzsch (1943–)
9.6. Jerome I. Friedman (1930−), Henry W. Kendall (1926–1999), and Richard E. Taylor (1929–2018)
9.7. Sheldon L. Glashow (1932−), Abdus Salam (1926–1996) and Steven Weinberg (1933–2021), Gerardus 't Hooft (1946−) and Martinus J. G. Veltman (1931–2021), Carlo Rubbia (1934−) and Simon van der Meer (1925–2011)
9.8. Yoichiro Nambu (1921–2015), Makoto Kobayashi (1944–), and Toshihide Maskawa (1940–2021)
9.9. François Englert (1932–) and Peter W. Higgs (1929–)
Part II. Elements of nuclear and radiation physics
Chapter 10. Basic Concepts and Definitions
10.1. Properties of atomic constituents
10.2. Nuclide nomenclature
10.3. Mass and energy
10.4. Q value
10.5. Naturally occurring radionuclides
10.6. Artificially produced radionuclides
Chapter 11. Alpha Radiation
11.1. Introduction
11.2. Decay energy
11.3. Alpha decay energy and half-life relationship
11.4. Alpha particle interactions with matter
11.5. Alpha particle ranges
Chapter 12. Beta Radiation and Beta Decay
12.1. Introduction
12.2. Negatron (β−) emission
12.3. Positron (β+) emission
12.4. Electron capture
12.5. Branching β−, β+, and EC decay
12.6. Double-beta (ββ) decay
12.7. Beta-particle interactions with matter
12.8. Beta-particle absorption and transmission
12.9. Stopping power and linear energy transfer
Chapter 13. Electromagnetic Radiation: photons
13.1. Introduction
13.2. Dual nature: wave and particle
13.3. Gamma radiation
13.4. Annihilation radiation
13.5. Cherenkov radiation
13.6. X-radiation
13.7. Synchrotron radiation
13.8. Interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter
Chapter 14. Neutron Radiation
14.1. Introduction
14.2. Neutron classification
14.3. Neutron sources
14.4. Interactions of neutrons with matter
14.5. Neutron attenuation
14.6. Neutron decay
Chapter 15. Atomic Electron Radiation
15.1. Introduction
15.2. Internal conversion (IC) electrons
15.3. Auger and Coster–Kronig electrons
15.4. Auger therapy
15.5. Auger electron spectroscopy
Chapter 16. Cosmic Radiation
16.1. Introduction
16.2. Classification and properties
16.3. Showers of cosmic radiation
16.4. Cosmic rays underground
16.5. Origins of cosmic radiation
16.6. Cosmic microwave background radiation and the Big Bang theory
16.7. Radiation dose from cosmic radiation and other sources
Chapter 17. Cherenkov Radiation
17.1. Introduction
17.2. Theory and properties
17.3. Cherenkov photons from gamma-ray interactions
17.4. Particle identification
17.5. Neutrino detection and measurement
17.6. Applications in radionuclide analysis
Chapter 18. Radionuclide Decay, Radioactivity Units, and Radionuclide Mass
18.1. Introduction
18.2. Half-life
18.3. General decay equations
18.4. Secular equilibrium
18.5. Transient equilibrium
18.6. No equilibrium
18.7. More complex decay schemes
18.8. Radioactivity units and radionuclide mass
Chapter 19. The Atomic Nucleus
19.1. Introduction
19.2. Nuclear radius and density
19.3. Nuclear forces
19.4. Binding energy
19.5. Nuclear models
19.6. Superheavy nuclei
19.7. Cluster radioactivity
19.8. Proton and neutron radioactivity
19.9. Nuclear decay modes
19.10. Nuclear reactions
19.11. Radioactive nuclear recoil
Epilogue: the threat of nuclear weapons
Appendix A. Particle range–energy correlations
Appendix B. Derivation of the Lorentz transformations
References
Index

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Radioactivity

History, Science, Vital Uses and Ominous Peril

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Michael F. L'Annunziata

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