Radioactivity: A History of a Mysterious Science PDF
Preview Radioactivity: A History of a Mysterious Science
RADIOACTIVITY Glasgow Manchester Berlin Warsaw Brunswick Wolfenbüttel St. Joachimstal mines Paris Vienna 0 250 500 km 0 125 250 mi Important European sites for the early history of radioactivity. RADIOACTIVITY A History of a Mysterious Science Marjorie C. Malley 1 1 Oxford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further Oxford University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education. Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With offi ces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Th ailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Copyright © 2011 by Marjorie C. Malley For titles covered by Section 112 of the US Higher Education Opportunity Act, please visit www.oup.com/us/he for the latest information about pricing and alternate formats. Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 www.oup.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitt ed, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Malley, Marjorie Caroline, 1941– Radioactivity : a history of a mysterious science / Marjorie C. Malley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-19-976641-3 1. Radioactivity. I. Title. QC794.6.R3M35 2011 539.7(cid:2)2—dc22 2010038979 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Th is book is dedicated to all who wonder and seek to understand This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS List of Illustrations xiii Preface xv Introduction xix PART ONE A NEW SCIENCE 1. Th e Beginnings 3 Th e Sett ing 3 Rays and Radiation 8 Becquerel’s Discovery 12 2. Th e Curies 18 Maria Skłodowska 18 A Consequential Meeting 21 New Elements! 26 vii CONTENTS 3. Rutherford, Soddy, Particles, and Alchemy? 34 Rutherford and the Rays 34 Where Did the Energy Come From? 37 Material Rays? Discovery of the Beta Particle 41 Th orium’s Rays 46 Vanishing Radioactivity 47 Transmutation! 51 A Missed Discovery 57 Reactions 64 Atomic Energy? 67 Tragedy 70 More Rays 72 Th e Alpha Particle 73 4. Th e Radioactive Earth 77 Th e Prospectors 77 How Old Is the Earth? 79 A New Property of Matt er? 82 5. Speculations 84 Early Th eories 84 Radioactivity and Probability 86 Kinetic Models of the Atom 89 6. Radioactivity and Chemistry 93 Th e Rise of Radiochemistry 93 Radioactive Genealogy 95 Chemistry of the Imponderable 96 Inseparable Radioelements 98 Isotopes 100 Displacement Laws 105 viii CONTENTS Th e End of the Lines 108 More Isotopes 110 7. Inside the Atom 112 Building Blocks 112 Bombarding Atoms 113 Th e Nuclear Atom 115 Th e Nucleus and the Periodic Table 116 Th e Gamma Rays 119 Th eories of the Nucleus 121 8. Sequel 124 War! 124 Radioactivity During World War I 126 From Radioactivity to Nuclear and Particle Physics 128 PART TWO MEASURING AND USING RADIOACTIVITY 9. Methods and Instruments 135 Crucial Choices 135 Standardizing the Measures 137 Innovations 139 Size, Money, and Machines 143 10. Radioactivity, Medicine, and Life 146 Unpleasant Surprises 146 From Burns to Treatments 147 Rays and other Organisms 150 Miracle Cure? 151 ix
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