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Assessment #8: Contextual Content of Science

Assessment #8: Contextual Content of Science. Enrico Fermi & Nuclear Physics. Early Life. Born Sept. 29, 1901 Father, Alberto, senior administrator on the Italian railway system Mother, Ida, elementary school teacher Youngest of 3 children, all very talented at school. College Years.

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Assessment #8: Contextual Content of Science

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  1. Assessment #8: Contextual Content of Science Enrico Fermi& Nuclear Physics

  2. Early Life • Born Sept. 29, 1901 • Father, Alberto, senior administrator on the Italian railway system • Mother, Ida, elementary school teacher • Youngest of 3 children, all very talented at school

  3. College Years • Enrolled at the University of Pisa, dual-enrolled at the ScoulaNormale • Fermi and his friend, Franco Rasetti, had the run of the undergrad laboratory • Finished the undergrad curriculum by his sophomore year, and soon was able to exploit the graduate laboratory • Dissertation: X-Rays • Doctoral Degree in 1922, at the age of 21

  4. Post-College • No professorships available for new grads • Post-doctoral fellowship in Germany under Max Born • During that fall (1922) Fascists under Mussolini took over the Italian government • Next fellowship was under Dutch physicist Paul Ehrenfest, leading to the eventual development of Fermi-Dirac Statistics • This paper (1925) gave him physics-renown

  5. Nobel Prize Work • 1926- Fermi lands professorship: chair of theoretical physics at University of Rome • Hired his old college buddy, Rasetti, to assist him in lab work • Combining recent discoveries about the nature of the nucleus (Rutherford) and induced radioactivity (Joliot-Curies) and made a breakthrough: using neutrons to induce radioactivity

  6. Nobel Prize Work • Systematic bombardment of elements with neutrons created more than forty artificial radioactive isotopes • Most importantly: they discovered that contrary to assumption, it is not the fastest neutrons that have the greatest chance of breaking up a nucleus • Nobel Prize awarded in 1938

  7. Emigration to America • Fermi travels to Sweden to pick up the Nobel Prize along with his wife, Laura, and children • The Fermis did not return to Italy, but moved instead to America right on the brink of war

  8. Fission • At this time, Germany’s Otto Hahn and Fritz Straussman were getting odd results in their work • When bombarding uranium with neutrons, the lighter element barium was the product • Lise Meitner realized this was explained by Einstein’s mass-energy relation

  9. WWII • Einstein Letter to President Roosevelt, written by Leo Szilard and Eugene Wigner • Fermi was world’s foremost expert on neutron physics, ultimately became drawn in and was in charge of the design and construction of the nuclear pile

  10. First Controlled Nuclear Chain Reaction • Occurred under Stagg Field at the University of Chicago • Proof of Concept • Safety Measures

  11. First Chain Reaction

  12. Content • Unifying concept: conservation • Conservation of energy/mass: E = mc2 • Conservation of energy through First Law of Thermodynamics in a nuclear reactor

  13. Content • Modern Physics • Applications of Uncontrolled and Controlled Nuclear Chain Reactions

  14. The Mousetrap Model • One model of an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction is the mousetrap model.

  15. Pressurized Water Reactor

  16. Nature of Science • Science is not just a progression of planned victories, some great discoveries come as result of accident: Fermi discovered the usefulness of slow neutrons because of the different materials in his mismatched lab tables • Government support of science (Manhattan Project) replaces private support

  17. Nature of Science • Fermilab • Fundamental particle research • USS Enterprise • Fundamental particle application

  18. Inquiry • Power Plant Demo • Energy webquest • Youtube video

  19. Issues • Responsibility of Scientists • Energy Shortage: Nuclear Power as a competitive option: pros and cons • Radiation in Everyday Life

  20. Science in the Community • X-Rays and MRI machines • Nuclear research • Related University Outreach Programs

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