Academic Press Unveiling the Atom and Its Nucleus: Discoveries, Insights, and Understanding

Unveiling the Atom and Its Nucleus: Discoveries, Insights, and Understanding explores how chemists and physicists have used scientific principles and experimentation to unveil the structure of the atom, factors governing nuclear stability and decay, modes of nuclear decay, and how the components of the atom interrelate to govern nuclear stability or predict its instability. Examples are featured, showing how discoveries (some considered insignificant at the time) have led to remarkable findings and resulted in our knowledge of the concepts and properties of the atom, such as Oliphant’s discovery of nuclear fusion, Bethe’s energy production in stars, and consequent current fusion energy development. The book also provides a summary of current advances in vital applications of atomic energy, such as current applications in nuclear medicine, including positron emission tomography, hadron therapy, targeted hadron therapy and radioactive nanoparticles in cancer therapy, stable and radioactive nuclides in research to enhance agricultural production, food preservation, and applied nuclear fusion. It concludes by looking at the status of international treaties and efforts to control nuclear weapon proliferation and nuclear war. Provides stimulating topics rooted in the history of the topic, perfect for teaching and embellishing the learning of students in an engaging manner Includes a logical, exhaustive, chronological-based format that takes the reader through the science, from initial discoveries and concrete scientific findings in the 17th century to current advances in the science of the 21st century Presents the science to the reader as it was discovered, and in the period it was discovered