Radioactive Boyscout Book Report

William Higginbotham was a senior physicist spent 47 years at Brookhaven. His primary interest was controlling nuclear bombs.

The book “Radioactive Boy Scout” is a true story about a boy named David Hahn that attended a Michigan high school. His goal was to set out and build a fast breeder reactor in his garden shed. He educated himself in these things by reading popular mechanics and the golden book of chemistry experiments. Whatever he could not get from laboratory suppliers, universities, hospitals, and nuclear agencies, he made himself. David collected household smoke detectors and extracted americium-24. He also got assembled gas mantle covers and pulverized them to get radioactive thorium and took the Geiger counter in to an antique shop where he found a clock with a phial of radium paint left in it. With a little bit of things he had

Radiation (also known as nuclear radiation) refers to particles or waves emitted by radioactive substance. Nuclear radiation comes from the waves from a nucleus. Ionising radiation can

Born in 1912, Chien-Shiung Wu was an overlooked physician who broke a law of physics when contributing to the Manhattan Project in the 40’s! She helped in developing the atom bomb at Columbia University, and ”became known as one of the best experimental physicists of her time”-According to Nina Byers, a retired Physics professor who taught at University of California in Los Angeles.

Leo Szilard was a Hungarian Physicist who dedicated himself to learning how to create a successful chain reaction to make an atomic bomb before the Germans had a chance to do so. Szilard convinced Albert Einstein to help research with him on how to create an atomic bomb. The “Einstein-Szilard” letter, sent to President Franklin D. Roosevelt led to the foundation of research into nuclear fission by the United States government. This ultimately encouraged the development of the program, the Manhattan Project.

In the "Radioactive Boy Scout" the author tells us about David Hahn, a teenage boy who tries to build a homemade breeder nuclear reactor in 1994, at the age of 17. He was a scout in the Boy Scouts of America, and secretly conducted experiments in a backyard shed at his mother 's house in Clinton Township, Michigan. Even though the radioactivity given off by his reactor never reached a dangerous state, when he was stopped by the police for another reason they found materials in his vehicle that were dangerous. Ten months later, his mother 's property was cleaned up by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Radioactivity is when energy is emitted from the nucleus due to the nucleus being unstable. The 3 types of radiation are Alpha ,Beta and gamma. Alpha particles have 2 protons and two neutrons. Examples of radioactive nuclei that emit alpha radiation. Are : uranium, thorium, actinium, and radium They are very ionising so they give energy off onto whatever they are in contact with. Therefore, it loses energy more quickly. They are not very penetrating so can be stopped by a piece of paper or skin. Beta particles have 1

As the engineers and scientists of the Manhattan Project began further research on the creation of the atomic bomb, they quickly ran into one of their first major problems. Making nuclear fuel to power the bomb quickly proved to be a major predicament. The Clinton Engineer

Radiation was discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Roentgen during a scientific experiment. Roentgen, classified radioactivity into three concepts: negative, positive, and electrically neutral. Radiation- is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. Technology is created with radiation and humans are exposed to the aspect daily with tons or material; especially in the doctor’s office and everywhere else.

A very deep hostility between Edward Teller and many scientists was created when Edward Teller continued his work on the hydrogen bomb. Teller lost many friends and colleagues due to the danger of a thermonuclear weapon, especially after seeing what happened when we used the atomic bomb on Japan. Nevertheless, the hydrogen bomb was created successfully, and it has only been used for testing. However; there were two 3.8 Mt hydrogen bombs aboard a B-52 that broke up midair and almost destroyed a large portion of North Carolina. This is one of few incidents that has occurred involving these incredible weapons, but the outcome would have been absolutely devastating. Edward Teller also continued the frightened nuclear age that began in 1945, but also led humanity to magnificent scientific discoveries. The work and dedication of producing a nuclear fusion reaction with a nuclear fission booster has led to the nuclear propulsion of

The book ‘the lost boy’ by Dave Pelzer tells about the authors struggles though foster care in California during the 1970’s. David was taken from an abuse home at the age of twelve where he was made a ward of the state and sent into the foster care system and later the juvenal justice system. This book covers three point in David life that was important in him becoming the man he is at the point where he wrote the book. These points where his struggle with recovering from his past trauma, his struggle with being stereotyped as a foster child and his choice to move forward and prepare for the future.

The morning of April 26, 1986 started just like all other mornings in Chernobyl, with just one exception, there was an emergency systems test underway at the near-by nuclear power station. This test was unauthorized, none the less, it was designed to ensure cooling water for the reactor could still be controlled with little or no power to the station. The cold war was in full swing, and Russia was still poised to go to war with the United States at any moment. It was due to this “distrust” that the test was being run that morning. The head nuclear scientist on shift, Anatoli Dyatlov, was from the “old school” and thought that he alone could control the whole reactor process, and he also thought he knew more

The first origins of the Manhattan Project began as early as 1930, with physicists such as Albert Einstein, who knew of the power of the single atom. Though it wasn’t until later in the decade that German physicists were able to take those thoughts produce the first artificial nuclear reaction, and even document the theory. Due to the publication of the theory, many people began to realize the immense power that could come from such a tremendous reaction of atoms.

Radioactivity is defined as “the spontaneous emission of particles”. (Nuclear Energy). Radioactivity is caused by an unbalanced nucleus in the cell. This happens because there is either an uneven number of protons and/or neutrons. When this happens, the element is considered to have multiple isotopes. An isotope is an atom with the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons. Thus, they have different atomic weights. This is important to know because there is a such thing as a radioactive isotope. These elements just have additional energy, and they release radiation in different forms. “There are over 800 radioactive isotopes, some of which are natural and some synthetic.” (Helmenstine). Radioactive elements can be both artificial and natural. However, in medicine, most of them are more than likely synthetic, since they are the most popular types.

was knocking on the doorstep of the dangerous atomic age. The Manhattan Project, a team of the world’s best scientists, carried forth quantum theoretics into tangible technological creations of doom. We were now capable of sweeping by in an airplane and dropping atomic devices capable of wiping out miles of civilization in mere seconds.