1900: A physics genius wandering around Europe

Chapter 615 Three major discoveries in the nuclear physics era! Nuclear fission neutron artificial radioactivity! Shocking prediction!

Ridgway would definitely not reveal the news of building the Borneo Circumpolar Particle Collider now.

He proposed the concept of cyclotron in order to enhance the influence of the Institute of Atomic Research and lay the foundation for various subsequent things.

When he returns to Borneo, he will immediately gather everyone to build the first cyclotron and start the competition in nuclear physics!
He did not fool Cockcroft. At least in the early stages of nuclear physics research, cyclotrons did not have an overwhelming advantage over linear accelerators.

Not all of those extremely significant achievements were obtained with the help of cyclotrons.

But it’s always a good idea to replace it with more advanced instruments and equipment.

You can do the experiments that others can do, and you can also do the experiments that others cannot do.

At this time, after everyone was shocked, they calmed down.

Ridgeway continued:
"Since we've mentioned particle physics, I'd like to talk about my views on the future development of nuclear physics."

"Only after we understand the atomic nucleus can we consider the rest of the elementary particles. Otherwise, it's just castles in the air."

Wow!
Everyone nodded in agreement.

In everyone's opinion, Professor Bruce's idea of ​​using a cyclotron to create new particles was too unrealistic.

To put it in a flattering way: It’s too high-level! Ordinary people can’t get in touch with it!

While ordinary physicists are still on the ground, Professor Bruce has already flown into the atmosphere.

At least we have to wait until physicists have thoroughly studied the atomic nucleus before we can consider these things.

Therefore, the future of nuclear physics is more important!

"I have already summarized several periods of development of nuclear physics."

"The important information we currently know about atomic nuclei is as follows."

"First, the nucleus may be composed of protons and neutrons, with protons carrying a unit positive charge and neutrons carrying no charge."

"The reason why I say possible is because the neutron has not yet been confirmed."

"But many experimental phenomena have shown that such a particle should exist, but it has not yet been discovered."

"Second, the nucleus can emit three different types of rays: alpha rays [helium nucleus], ​​beta rays [electrons], and gamma rays [high-energy electromagnetic waves]."

"And according to the proton-neutron model, atoms decay into other elements by emitting alpha rays."

"Third, theoretically, atomic nuclei can undergo nuclear fusion and nuclear fission reactions."

"Natural nuclear fusion reactions are the burning of stars, but nuclear fission has not yet been fully confirmed."

"One of the purposes of a particle accelerator is to artificially achieve nuclear reactions."

Everyone was talking in low voices, their expressions were moved.

Although the results seem to be only three short paragraphs, they have consumed more than ten years of hard work of many physicists.

At this time, Li Qiwei paused for a moment and looked at everyone's sincere and expectant eyes.

After summarizing the existing achievements, the following is the prediction of future development trends.

In the eyes of many people, this content is even more practical than the cyclotron just mentioned.

After all, at this moment in the entire physics community, no one can truly understand the great value of the cyclotron.

Everyone just thinks of it as particle accelerator 2.0.

Ridgeway continued:

“The clues to the future development of nuclear physics may lie in the above three important results.”

“My predictions are also based on the existing foundation.”

"Let's look at the first result first."

"The most urgent matter in nuclear physics at present is undoubtedly the discovery of the neutron."

"The material basis of all nuclear physics is protons and neutrons."

“They are the foundation of the field and cannot be lost.”

“But from what I understand, the progress is not ideal.”

Li Qiwei suddenly called out the name.

"Dr. Chadwick, can you tell me the specific reason?"

Chadwick was deeply moved when he heard this.

One of his research areas is related to neutrons.

But only when you actually do the experiment will you understand that it is simply too difficult.

He now thinks that it was incredibly lucky for Professor Rutherford to have discovered the proton.

Facing Professor Bruce's call, Chadwick said respectfully:

"Okay, Professor."

"Based on my experimental experience, I think there are two main difficulties."

"First, there is no theoretical guidance. We don't know what kind of rays to use to bombard what elements."

"At present, it can be said that everyone is trying blindly, so luck is very important."

“Second, neutrons have no charge and are easily overlooked.”

"Because the mainstream method for studying nuclear physics is still to use the deflection of electric and magnetic fields to determine the properties of particles."

Everyone couldn't help but nodded.

As experimental physicists, they did not think there was anything biased about Chadwick's luck theory.

Even Rutherford himself admitted that he was blessed by luck.

In real history, the discovery of the neutron was indeed related to luck.

In 1928, German physicist Bot bombarded beryllium [84] with alpha rays emitted by the natural radioactive element polonium [4].

As a result, he obtained an unknown ray with strong penetrating power, which he believed to be a gamma ray.

But he did not delve further into it.

Dr. Bot graduated from Planck's school and won the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to particle measurement.

During World War II, he also participated in Germany's plan to develop the atomic bomb and was responsible for building Germany's first cyclotron.

Moreover, he made a mistake when calculating the experimental results of graphite absorbing neutrons, which indirectly led to Heisenberg's mistake as well.

In the end, Germany's atomic bomb development program failed.

I have to say that sometimes small people can cause big changes.

After seeing Bot's experimental results, Irena and her husband became very interested in this unknown ray.

In 1932, they used this type of radiation to bombard paraffin, but found that it emitted extremely fast protons.

If this unknown ray is indeed a gamma ray, it does not have the momentum required to knock a proton out of the nucleus.

Despite recognizing this contradiction, the Irenas foolishly continued to follow Bot's line of thought.

They believe this is a higher-energy form of gamma rays.

Because the essence of gamma rays is electromagnetic waves, the shorter the wavelength, the higher the energy and the stronger the impact force, and perhaps they can blast out protons.

I have to say, silly but cute.

Some people later analyzed that this might be related to the fact that Irene was a homebody and did not like academic exchanges, so she did not know that Rutherford had predicted the neutron in 1920.

So, in January, Irena and her husband hurriedly wrote a paper describing the experimental results in detail.

Just a few months later, when Chadwick, who was far away in England, saw the Curies' paper, he danced with excitement.

"Isn't this the neutral particle I've been looking for?"

Chadwick was a student of Rutherford and was naturally sensitive to neutrons.

He immediately repeated the experiment of Irena and her husband, and introduced the unknown ray into the magnetic field, and found that it would not be deflected. He also measured the mass and other properties of the particle through various experiments.

Finally, Chadwick concluded that the nature of this unknown ray was neutrons!

A month later, in 1932, he published a paper officially announcing the discovery of the neutron, causing a huge sensation in the physics community.

Irena and her husband were very upset after hearing this.

This is the history of the neutron, full of coincidences and luck.

At this moment, after listening to Chadwick's analysis, Li Qiwei smiled in his heart:
"In this life, I wonder who will get the honor of discovering the neutron."

However, he was unable to solve Chadwick's difficulties for the time being.

This is the fate of experimental physics.

He nodded and continued:

"I don't understand the details of the experiment, I can only wish you good luck."

"Let's look at the second result, radioactivity."

"I have a bold idea: since natural radioactivity exists, is it possible to achieve artificial radioactivity?"

"I confided this idea to Irene before at the Cavendish 50th anniversary celebration."

"But judging by the situation, it seems that she hasn't done it yet."

“But I think the idea is still worth trying.”

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
Professor Bruce is indeed imaginative and unconventional.

He actually thought of achieving radioactivity artificially!
"My God!"

“This reverse thinking is absolutely amazing!”

"Why can't I think of that?"

Rutherford was shocked. He immediately asserted:
"If artificial radioactivity can be achieved, it will definitely be of great significance."

Artificial means controllable.

For humans, the controllable radioactivity is equivalent to mastering a new kind of power.

For example, the famous [radioisotope technology] in later generations uses artificial radioactivity.

The carbon 14 test that is familiar to everyone can detect the age of fossils, rocks, etc., and is an application of radioactive isotope technology.

In short, artificial radioactivity plays a significant role in countless fields such as medicine, chemistry, and electronics.

Hahn's eyes widened, his face full of excitement.

"Is this Professor Bruce's prophetic speech?"

"It really makes people suddenly enlightened and can't stop."

Everyone present understood that the conjecture proposed by Professor Bruce was undoubtedly Nobel Prize-worthy.

Whoever discovers it will win the Nobel Prize!
So arrogant!

But the man blurted it out without hiding anything.

This makes a few people feel ashamed, and they are afraid of others looking at them more when they are doing experiments.

"Professor Bruce's heart is wider than the sky and the earth!"

In real history, in 1934, after the loss of the Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the neutron, Irena and her husband discovered artificial radioactivity for the first time.

And they were really blessed by the goddess of luck.

They bombarded aluminum foil with alpha rays emitted by polonium [84] and found that after removing the alpha rays, the aluminum foil was actually radioactive.

Then through research, the two determined that this was artificial radioactivity.

What's outrageous is that the experiment of bombarding aluminum foil with alpha rays had already been done to death in the academic community before Irena and her husband did it.

Even a rookie graduate student has experienced this.

But no one else discovered artificial radioactivity, only this couple did.

So some people sighed: The Curies were destined to win the Nobel Prize.

However, the drama is not over yet. What is even more outrageous is that the rays emitted by this aluminum foil are actually anti-electrons!
At that time, Irena and her husband had already discovered the abnormality, but they thought it was a normal electron backflow phenomenon and did not pay attention to it.

Later, when they found out it was anti-electron, they were upset again.

They missed out on a second Nobel Prize-level achievement.

If it happened to an ordinary person, he would probably have gone crazy.

At this moment, Li Qiwei wanted to laugh when he thought of Irena's cute look.

I don’t know if she can seize the opportunity in this life.

After everyone was shocked, Li Qiwei continued:

"Finally, let's look at the third achievement, the nuclear reaction."

"I personally firmly believe that both artificial nuclear fusion and artificial nuclear fission are achievable!"

“When that day comes, humans will truly master the ability to turn stone into gold!”

"Of course, that's only the most trivial application of nuclear reactions."

“Nuclear energy may change the world!”

Wow!
Everyone was shocked!
Professor Bruce's confidence infected them.

When Cockcroft and Walton met, they both felt the other's burning will.

"Professor Bruce has said so, so why should I be afraid of testing someone (Wo someone)?"

In real history, neutrons and artificial radioactivity came into being.

Fermi was the first to think of using neutrons to bombard atomic nuclei to make non-radioactive elements radioactive.

Because electrically neutral neutrons react more easily with atomic nuclei than alpha particles.

Fermi was indeed amazing. In just over half a month in March 1934, he used neutrons to induce radioactivity in 3 elements.

For a time, the entire physics community was in an uproar.

"Femi is so arrogant!"

Then, Rutherford of Cavendish in England, Irene and her husband of the Radium Institute in France, Meitner and Hahn of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute in Germany, and Frisch (Meitner's nephew) of the Copenhagen Institute in Denmark
At that time, all the famous nuclear physics research institutions and bigwigs joined the neutron bombardment movement crazily!
According to the order of the periodic table, the elements are bombarded one by one.

This is very similar to the poor graduate students in later generations who used graphene water to write their papers.

However, the water of the big guys is not called water, it is called contribution to basic physics.

Soon, the situation became complicated when they bombarded the last element in the periodic table, uranium.

At this time, uranium nuclear fission officially appears!
What's even more outrageous is that when Irena and her husband bombarded uranium, they even separated the fragment elements of nuclear fission.

But neither of them thought about this result from the perspective of heavy nuclear fission. (For the difference between uranium nuclear fission and ordinary nuclear fission, see Chapter 539)
So they missed the third Nobel Prize-level achievement.

This is definitely the biggest injustice in the history of science.

Li Qiwei recalled these scientific anecdotes in his mind and was filled with emotion.

His prediction just now included the three most important discoveries in the nuclear physics era: nuclear fission, neutrons, and artificial radioactivity.

The order of occurrence in time is: light nuclear fission → neutron → artificial radioactivity → heavy nuclear fission.

During this period, there were also some other very important nuclear physics achievements.

Finally, with the advent of uranium nuclear fission, Earth Online will officially usher in the nuclear energy version!
The era of nuclear physics has also entered the era of high-energy physics.

And in this life, what role will the Borneo Atomic Research Institute play in the era of nuclear physics?

Li Qiwei smiled slightly.

(End of this chapter)