Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Next Step
Good morning, James. You've done quite a bit of work on this project so far. The next step however will probably be the most difficult yet. You need to print a copy of the paper you selected for this project and read it. As you read, please keep a list of questions - things that are confusing, points that you would like to have clarified, etc. Post these to the blog. I'll be interested to read what you think about the paper you've selected.
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4 comments:
QUESTIONS:
1. Does the Thorium oxide emit radioactive particles all the time? Or just when stimulated? The essay is not really clear.
2. So the radiation given off by thorium is affected by currents of air, but what makes it to where it is hardly affected? Adding oxide?
I believe that there are several indications that it is always emitting particles, but you are right - the article isn't particularly clear. You could check some other internet sources if this is still a question for you. Also, keep in mind that when these discoveries were being made and recorded, they were not without error. This paper is basically a transcript of the events and their interpretation at the time. Chances are, these interpretations have been modified, altered, changed or dropped because they didn't make sense as more was discovered about nuclear radiation. I want you to concentrate at this point on writing a summary of what this paper says to you about the level of information available at that time regarding nuclear radiation. For example, did they know that there was a nucleus and that this energy they were studying was coming from that region of the atom? You will probably need to look at some dates online regarding the discovery or theory of atomic structure and how it changed during the late 1800's and early 1900's. You've done a good job. Be sure to keep up with the sources you use on the internet.
It is stated in another website (http://library.thinkquest.org/28582/history/nucldisc.htm) that rutherford had a theory of a nucleus. but it wasnt proven untill around 10 years later. rutherford got the idea of a nucleus by observing the effects of shooting a narrow beam of small alpha particles at a thin gold foil. he noticed that some of the alpha particles bounced off, leading him to believe that there was a small but very dense piece of the atom. sence all of this was only a theory to Rutherford, he did not know that the nucleus was the source of the radiation.
Excellent response! Now we need to turn your attention to creating some type of project with this information. By the end of this, you will need to have a paper and a powerpoint presentation. Since this area of research involves radiation and history of the nucleus, I can see this going in a couple of possible directions. You can read the two ideas below and choose one or come up something on your own. Just run it by me, if you develop something on your own, and then you can start on it.
1. Rutherford did the gold foil experiment to investigate the model of the atom as it was understood at that time - the plum pudding model. You could research and report on the various models of the atom (starting with the original from the Greeks) through the model we now use (Bohr's model).
2. Do an extensive research on just Rutherford's work - how much was he responsible for with regard to chemistry knowledge (atomic structure, etc).
Let me know what you would like to do.
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