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Physics Assessment: Research Task

- From Quanta to Quarks

1. Describe the Manhattan Project and asses its significance to society

 The Manhattan Project was the name given to the top-secret effort of Allied
scientists to develop an atomic bomb in WWII. It was based in America and
directed by Dr Julius Oppenheimer.
 The project lasted 4 years, between 1942 - 1946, and cost about $1.8 billion.
Today, this amount would be equivalent to over $20 billion
 They thought that there were only two ways to make an atomic bomb, using
uranium-235 or plutonium-239 as the fuel. They didn’t know which one would
be the best, so they instigated research into both.
 The prolem was to produce enough of each and to have a pure enough lump of
them. They worked on getting both. Large plants were constructed to produce
the large amounts of pure uranium-235, from natural uranium, and plutonium-
239, by bombarding U-238 with neutrons.
 Once U-238 had been made, seperating it from the remaining U-235 is another
problem to overcome. One method used the principle of gaseous diffusion to
separate the uranium isotopes. The uranium ore is sprayed with fluorine to
form Uranium Hexafluoride gas. The gas is then injected into a series of
porous filters. These filters have an extremely fine matrix that allows the
lighter U-235 to pass through faster. After going through several filters, the
Uranium Hexafluoride gas has a high concentration of U-235
 Three bombs were made during the Manhattan project, “Gaget”, a prototype
for a Plutonium bomb, “Little Boy”, the uranium bomb that was used over
Hiroshima, and “Fat Man”, which was the same as “Little Boy”,but was used
over Nagasaki.
 First pultonium bomb test was done at Alamogordo, New Mexico, 1945. This
bomb was “Gaget”.
 The significance of the creating and using of these bombs was to effectivly end
WWII by destroying Hiroshima and Nagasaki and forcing a surrender.
 The bombs also caused nuclear fallout in these cities. This led to diseases, such
as leukemia and other types of cancer, in the population.
 It also lead to fast-tracking the development of technology to harness nuclear
energy, but at a large cost to humanlife.
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2. Explain the basic principals of a fission reactor. Include labelled diagram,

table with main parts and their functions and describe how the parts work
together

Fission is a nuclear process in which a heavy nucleus is split into two smaller
ones, called nuclei, after colliding with a very fast moving neutron. The process
releasins two or more neutrons (eg: n + U-235 ---> Xe-134 + Sr-100 + 2n). With
fission, a lot of energy is released because the masses of the smaller nuclei added
together are less than the heavy nucleus they are split from and the binding
energies are also smaller, so the excess energy is released.
In a fission reactor, a chain reaction is established (ie the first
reaction initiates the second and
the second the third and so on).
The two or more neutrons that
are released from the first
reaction. These neutrons are
moving very fast and have
enough energy to collide with a
heavy atom and initiate a fission
reaction this atom, and the
neutrons from the second
fissioned atom can cause the
reaction in other atoms, and so
on.
Most of the nuclear fission reactors operating today are
thermal reactors, they’re called this because the fast
neutrons released in the fission process are slowed down to
thermal energies by moderators before they carry on with the chain reaction
process. In fast reactors, which use plutonium-uranium fuel, the plutonium is
concentrated enough so the fission reaction can keep going by the fast neutrons
without the need of a moderator. This means the reactor core is more compact and
therefore needs an efficient coolant, such as liquid sodium. In a thermal reactor,
the coolant can be ordinary water, heavy (deuterated) water, or a gas.
The following are essential components parts of a thermal nuclear fission reactor:
1. The fuel – the fissile material (U-235), either as found in natural uranium or
enriched. In some cases plutonium is added. The fuel is produced in the form of
metal or oxide pellets that, in a Pressurised Water Reactor, has water free to flow
between the stacks of pellets.
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2. Fuel cladding – a metal shell in which the fuel pellets are contained. It protects
the fuel from corrosion and prevents fission products from escaping.
3. A moderator – made of light elements, it slows down the fission neutrons to
thermal levels without unduly absorbing them.
4. A coolant – to transport the heat generated from the core to the steam generator
for driving the turbine.
5. Control rods – made of neutron absorbing material, these can be moved in or
out of the core to control the reaction and maintain it at a critical level or to stop
the reaction during shutdown.
6. A pressure vessel – to prevent radioactive
material from escaping in case of excessive
internal pressure.
7. A containment structure or neutron shield
– (concrete or other material) to protect operators
and the public from radiation.

This is a diagram of a
Pressurised Water Reactor
3. Describe some medical and industrial
applications of radioisotopes. Describe the used of a named isotope in
medicine, agriculture and engineering
Medicine:
Technetium-99m
Technetium-99m is the most commonly used isotope used for medical imaging.
This is because the gamma radiation emitted has the appropriate energy to provide
a good image whem picked up by the machines, whilst the radiation burden for the
patient is very low. Technteium-99m can also bond easily to many different
chemical materials and therefore be used for a variety of diagnoses.
Technteium-99m has a half-life of about six hours, which would make it very
difficult to use since it is made in nuclear reactors. This is easily overcome
because technteium-99m is the decay product of molybdenum-99, which has a
half-life of 66 hours, long enough to transport to hospitals so they can use it in
their medical imnaging.
Technteium-99m is used to investigates bone metabolism and locate bone disease,
ases thyroid function, study liver disease and disorders of its blood supply,
estimate total body plasma and blood count, investigate brain blood flow and
function, blood volume and circulation clots, asses blood and urine flow in
kidneys and bladder.
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Agriculture:

In agricultural applications, radioisotopes, that emit  rays with high penetrating

power,
are usually used as tracers. They can be used to track, and then understand,
chemical and bioogical processes in plants. This can be done because of two
properties of radioisotopes:
- radioisotopes are chemically identical with other isotopes of the same
element and will be substituted in chemical reactions
- radioactive forms of the element can be easily detected with a Geiger
counter or other such device.
An example of making use of this, is to use fertilisers doped with radioisotopes.
The amount of fertiliser taken up by the crop, or selection of plants, can be
calculated, as well as the amount lost. This enables the farmer or agrnomist to
calculate the amount of fertiliser that needs to be spread to be the most cost
effective.

Engineering:

Engineering and industrial aplications of radioisotopes are for gagues. Radiation

from a radioisotope with a medium to long half-life (such as iridium-192, half-life
of 73.83 days,or colbolt-60, half-life of 5.3 years) is beamed at an object and then
onto a secial photographic film. The degree of ‘darkness’ on the photographic film
is a direct reflection of the thickness of the material. This means the technique can
be used to monitor and control the thickness of:
- sheet metals
- textiles
- paper
- (ordinary) photographic film
- metal foils.
This technique can also be used to monitor any flaws that could develop in
equipment and structures, such as:
- cracks in ‘d-clips’ used in rock climbing and abseiling
- buildings and bridges under stress

4. List the main properties of the nucleus. Including a description of neutron

scattering and how it’s used as a probe by referring to the properties for
neutrons.
The nucleus is in he middle of the atom. It is very dense, only taking up 0.052 or
less of the atomic volume.
It is positivly charged and contains the protons and neutrons of the atom.
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Properties:

Properties of the nucleus

- The nucleus it the centre part of the atom, it is mand neutrons
- It is heavy, comprising most of the mass of the atom. The neutrons weigh
1.675*10-27 and protons 1.673*10-27 (which makes it about 1836 time heavier
than an electron.
The Rutherford experiment also helped to clarify the properties of the nucleus
itself.
It is possible to determine the charge of the nucleus by analyzing the distribution
of alpha particles scattered from a metal foil.
This is because alpha particles (helium nuclei) have a +2 charge.
Since the positive charges repel, the higher the charge of the nucleus the more the
scattered distribution is shifted to higher angles.

Nuclear charge = +10 Nuclear charge = +20

From experiment of this type it was determined that the nucleus of each element
has a unique and characteristic charge, which increases with increasing atomic
number.

Neutron Scattering: This is a process where neutrons are used to probe the
structure of materials on the nanometer (10-9 m) to micrometer (10-6 m) scale. They
can provide detailed information on the interaction between surfaces and
molecular adsorbates as well as in biological research. There are several properties
that make it possible to have neutron scattering as an efective tool for obsering
small things:
- The neutron has a wave nature, so it will produce interferrance patterns when
they’re scattered off an atomic lattice.
- Because neutron are neutral and they’re big,
they aren’t deflected by any electromagnetic forces
from protons or electrons. This property means that
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when the neutrons are detected after being deflected by the material it was passed
through, it has only been deflected by the material,not the charge of the material.
The angle that the neutrons are scattered can therefore be used to gather a picture
of the material that is being analysed.
- They have an energy similar to the vibrational energy of atoms of solids and
liquids which enables them to be used to studythe motion of atoms in molecules in
detail.
- Neutrons strongly interract with nuclei and the strength of this interraction is
different for different nuclei whichh makes it possible to study isotopes of light
elements.

5. Identify two different accelerators and describe how each of these is used
as a probe to investigate the structure of matter. You report should give a
brief outline of how each accelerator works.

Synchrotrons are used as a probe to investigate the structure of matter by

accelerating particles up to very high speeds and then bombarding other
particleswith these accelerated particles. The resulting particles are then examined
and inferences are made as to what happened during the collision, for example the
acceleration of a particle into a nucleus may have caused alpha, beta or gamma
decay.

Cyclotrons:
A cyclotron accelerates positive particles
from an ion source through an evacuated
(ie. a vacuum) chamber. The Dees draw the
draw the particles out.. The particles are in
a magnetic field, so when they remain in
the magnetic field, they travel in a circle.
They are accelerated by giving them a
series of ‘kicks’ as it passes through gaps in
the dees (see diagram). When the particle
crosses here, it is given energy and
accelerates. Due to this energy gain, it goes
in a wider circle, resulting in the spiral (instead as the straight circle) shown. When
the particles reach the limit of the magnetic field they are deflected into their
target. Very high velocities aren’t possible because of the size required for the
cyclotron as the particles take up increasing orbits because of their velocity and
energy, another reason is that the particles would becme out of step with the
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alternating potontial applied to ake the particles accelerate because of their

reletivistic increase in mass.

Synchrotrons:
Synchrotrons are the main accelerators used today. They keep particles in a fixed
radius of a circle and are kept there by many powerful magnets that increase in
magnetism as the particles gain energy.
Each time the particles go around the ring, they go through regions where a radio
frequency is applied and provides a ‘kick’ for the particles to increase their energy.
This radio frequence increases as the articles increase in energy
Synchrotrons can be huge, the Tevetron at Fermilab has a circumferance of
6.28km

Sources of Information (bibliography)

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th Edition, Volume 14,

HSC Course Physics 2, Jacaranda HSC Science, consultant: Yoka McCallum,
2003
World Book Encyclopaedia, Volume 1 & 15, 1978
http://www.virtualology.com/MANHATTENPROJECT.COM/
http://www.nrg-nl.com/public/medical/valley/node6.html
http://www.me.utexas.edu/~uer/manhattan/intro.html
http://www.chem.duke.edu/~jds/cruise_chem/nuclear/agriculture.html
http://europa.eu.int/comm/research/energy/fi/fi_bs_fr_en.html
http://www.chem.utk.edu/highlights/highlights-040223.html
http://www.ncnr.nist.gov/programs/sans/