Physicists started examining the structure of atoms more than a century ago. Nuclear energy, which can be harvested from these tiny particles, had significantly shaped our history:
- The energy released in nuclear fusion provides the life-giving radiation of the Sun, and this process could be the abundant and environmentally-friendly energy source of our civilization in the future.
- The decay of radioactive elements in the depths of Earth has been heating the magma, which drives the movement of tectonic plates and volcanic activities, for billions of years. It also heats the natural thermal waters and creates geothermal energy.
- Humanity has used it to build nuclear weapons and destroy cities. On the other hand, nuclear power plants became essential sources of electric energy.
- The radiation, generated in the transformation of radioactive nuclei, is able to cure cancer patients in radiological centres.
Radioactivity can cause fear even today, but this phenomenon is part of nature, since the beginning of time. It can be found both in the environment and in us. The energy stored in the nuclei is present in our everyday life. Its utilization is absolutely safe if it is supervised by sufficiently trained experts. We can only alleviate the strong rejection of its application, with articulate, trustworthy and scientifically accurate information, and most importantly, with high-quality education.
We created a complex educational package based on an online CURRICULUM. We developed an interactive 3-dimension energy valley, and its physical (printable) version, called "stability object". To understand the nuclear transformations we created 3D animations. We collected the main characteristics of the observed nuclei in the Table of isotopes.
Bibliography:
- Dr. Sükösd Csaba: Kísérleti magfizika, 2013
- Kenneth Krane: Introductory nuclear physics, 1988
- wikipedia.org
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