Alchemy nuclear

With the development of nuclear reactors and charged particle accelerators (commonly referred to as atom smashers ) over the second half of the twentieth century, the transmutation of one element into another has become commonplace. In fact some two dozen synthetic elements with atomic numbers higher than naturally occurring uranium have been produced by nuclear transmutation reactions. Thus, in principle, it is possible to achieve the alchemist s dream of transmuting lead into gold, but the cost of production via nuclear transmutation reactions would far exceed the value of the gold. SEE ALSO Alchemy Nuclear Chemistry Nuclear Fission Radioactivity Transactinides. 

Cover title Alchemy chemistry 1500-1900 catalogue of rare books.. The second volume Parts 3 4) is titled Foundations of nuclear physics and radio chemistry 1600-1945 is not relevant to this bibliography. 222 numbered entries on alcehmy, mostly of works in Latin and German. 

Irwin, Keith Gordon. The romance of chemistry, from ancient alchemy to nuclear fission. Illustrated by Anthony Ravielli. New York Viking P, 1959. 148p. 

Jaffe, Bernard. Crucibles the story of chemistry from ancient alchemy to nuclear fission. Rev. ed. ed. New York Simon and Schuster, 1948. xii, 480 p. 

Yet the resurrection of alchemical tropes at the birth of modern atomic science demands a third version of the story. Weart notes that the word transmutation offered a clue that could help explain almost every strange image that would later appear in nuclear energy tales (6). In order to understand fully the relationships between alchemical transmutation and the science of radioactivity, I take a path that branches off from both the traditional history of scientific discovery and the image history that Weart provides. In Modem Alchemy, I reconstruct the history of how scientific knowledge was produced and how it was elaborated in a broader cultural and spiritual context. That is, I look at science, its public elaboration, and its spiritual4 dimensions as mutually interacting realms, and tell a story of how science and occultism were entwined. 

Alchemy—History. 2. Occultism—History. 3. Nuclear chemistry. 4. Alchemy in literature. I. Title. 

A straightforward way to choose a basis is to select elements as components. Accounting for redox reactions, the basis also includes the electron or some measure of oxidation state. Clearly, this choice satisfies the three rules mentioned, since any species or phase is composed of elements, and reactions converting one element to another is the stuff of alchemy or nuclear physics, both of which are beyond the scope of this book. 

The first sections of this reference book set the stage for the presentation of the elements. First is the section How to Use This Book followed by a short introduction. Next is A Short History of Chemistry, the narrative of which progresses from prehistoric times to the Age of Alchemy and then to the Age of Modern Chemistry. Next is the section titled Atomic Structure, which traces the history of our knowledge of the structure of the atom some theoretical models, including quantum mechanics the discovery of subatomic (nuclear) particles... 

The French poet Prdvert tells us that numbers are birds and algebra is in the tree tops. For our part, we may say that the stars do arithmetic. The star is the ultimate furnace in the art of nuclear alchemy. It is a place where the simple is made complex by adding together nucleons at high temperatures. Helium is the result of a fourfold union between hydrogen nuclei. Carbon... 

Chemistry is the art of combining atoms. Nuclear physics is the science of the transmutation of the elements. Bombarding atomic nuclei by other atomic nuclei can produce transmutation of both target and projectile. Alchemy is thus nuclear, not atomic. 

Stars drive galactic evolution. At the end of their existence, they inseminate space with the products of their nuclear alchemy. Then, in dark clouds, sheltered from ravaging photons, molecules build up. Stars and planets are constantly being born in the cold of space. 

Nevertheless, at the end of its hfe, the Sun will release part of its substance, and the hehum produced throughout its long career will be poured out into the interstellar medium. The day-star will not always hide the produce of its nuclear alchemy under the mattress. 

As the foremost nuclear physicist, Rutherford was very much aware of these problems. He realized that they might disappear if there were a third kind of particle, one that was electrically neutral, which he named the neutron. As early as 1920 Rutherford suggested that electrons might somehow combine with protons by a kind of nuclear alchemy, producing a new particle. In a 1920 lecture he remarked that this seemed almost necessary to explain the building up of heavy elements. ... 

In short, with sublime irony, Duchamp has employed a modernist visual vocabularly to camouflage an underlying, deliciously anachronistic, allegorical content. Hence, his playful physics is neo-Alchemy, a strictly contemporary, modernist solution. Like some contemporary writers, Duchamp validates the heavily pictorialized fossil science by inserting it into the modernist, pseudoscientific context of radioactivity, electricity, automobiles, X rays, and nuclear physics. According to Duchamp s later recollection to Tomkins,... 

Jaffe, B. Crucibles The Story of Chemistry, From Ancient Alchemy to Nuclear Fission. New York Dover, 1976. 

Cobb, Cathy, and Harold Goldwhite. Creations of Fire Chemistry s Lively History from Alchemy to the Atomic Age. New Y ork Basic Books, 2002. The authors, both chemists, describe the development of chemical knowledge—from the confusion of alchemists who tried to turn lead into gold to the onset of nuclear and quantum chemistry, where people learned to tame and harness the power of the atom. 

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