Radioactivity: A History of a Mysterious Science

290 Pages·2011·2.43 MB·English

by  Marjorie C. Malley

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
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Copyright © 2011 by Marjorie C. Malley
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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