The Building Blocks of Matter: The Atom and Its Nucleus 426
A. The Atomic Hypothesis 427
B. Building Blocks of the Atom 428
C. Energy Levels 432
D. Nuclear Structure 434
E. Radioactivity 435
F. Nuclear Glue, or Binding Energy 439
G. The Joy of Atom-Smashing, or Nuclear Reactions 441
H. Fission 444
I. Summary 445
alpha ray the nucleus of a helium atom; one of the natural radiations.
atomic number the number of protons in the nucleus.
beta ray a positive or negative electron; a natural component of radioactivity.
binding energy the energy that holds a nucleus together; the difference between the sum of the masses of the individual nucleons and the actual mass of the nucleus.
eV (electron volt) an amount of energy equal to 1.6 x 10-19 joules.
gamma ray a high-energy photon of electromagnetic energy released in some radioactive decays.
half-life time it takes for one-half of the amount of a radioactive material to decay into another element.
isotopes nuclei that have the same atomic number but different numbers of neutrons.
nucleon general term for the proton and neutron.
quantized value a discrete value possessed by a physical quantity.Contemporary Physics Education Project
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FermiLab’s Education Office
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The Particle Adventure
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