Nuclear and Radioactivity Physics
Text Resources
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation 1992, A Nuclear Source: A Resource Kit for Teachers, ANSTO, Sydney, NSW.
Caro, McDonell & Spicer 1980, Modern Physics, 3rd edn, Edward Arnold, London.
Hall, EJ 1984, Radiation and Life, 2nd edn, Pergamon Press, New York.
Hutton, D & Penna, C 1988, Ionising Radiation: An Australian Source Book, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne.
Milliken, R 1986, No Conceivable Injury, Penguin.
Pochin, E 1983, Nuclear Radiation: Risks and Benefits, Oxford University Press.
United Nations Environment Program 1985, Radiation Doses, Effects, Risks.
Audiovisual Resources
It is recommended that teachers should view any video before purchase.
Marcom Projects: Nuclear physics, Radioisotopes at Work
ABC: Quantum – Radioactivity
Classroom Activities
- Radioactivity - Dice Prac
- This is a prac that simulates radioactive decay using either dice or wooden blocks. It has an option to use Excel to analyse the data.
- Proactinium Prac
- A prac that uses a Protactinium (Pa) source. Details on how to make a Pa source can be found in the prac book "Guide to Year 11 Physics" by Tait and Boydell. Pa has a short life so that the count rate dies down to background in about five minutes. The prac is down as a class prac with two students reading and supplying data to the rest of the class. One student counts down the clock for each 20 second interval, the other student reads the geiger counter and calls out the progressive total count.
- Practical activities or Radioactivity
- Practical activities for radioactivity, student sheet and teaching notes. Geiger counter, cloud chamber, low activity sources, dice simulation of radioactive decay.(44k - Word 97/2000)
- Code of Practice for the Safe Use of Ionising Radiation in secondary schools (1986).
- An ARPANSA pdf file of 17 pages covering modes of radiation exposure, shielding, dose limits, responsibility, general rules, X-ray generators, By-product X-radiation, general control of radioactive sources, sealed sources, unsealed sources, references and appendices.
Assessment Ideas
- Nuclear Presentation
- Handout outlining an assessment task requiring students to prepare a presentation in poster or PowerPoint format on an aspect of nuclear energy.
- Nuclear Presentation Assessment
- Assessment criteria sheet for the presentation on an aspect of nuclear energy.
- Atomic and Nuclear Test
- Test on Atomic & Nuclear Physics.
- Radiation Assessment Task
- Radioisotope Poster Presentation - involving student research and presentation
- Radiation Assessment Task
- Radioactivity and Nuclear Energy Presentation (This is a research task using written references and the Internet. Students are to produce a newspaper report, a PowerPoint presentation or a web page. Topic cards are selected at random so that all students research a different topic. Swapping of cards is fine with me, as is negotiating another topic.) (52k - RTF)
Useful Websites
A University of Melbourne, a School of Physics website, that provides authoritative information about Nuclear Power.
An Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) website contains information of Radiation basics and fact sheets on Radiation and Health, as well as technical reports. The Code of Practice for secondary schools is also available, see above.
- Meltdown at Three Mile Island
- Contains information about the meltdown at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, including a timeline and facts on key people and events, plus a teacher's guide. Also outlines the episode of the PBS series "The American Experience" relating to the Three Mile Island accident.
- Nuclear Physics: Past, Present and Future
- Explains the physics behind nuclear technology, connecting it to popular history, current issues and prospects for the future. Also provides a forum for users to discuss material presented on the site and express their thoughts regarding various issues. Contains information about the meltdown at Three Mile Island
- Info on Radiocarbon Dating
- An informational site dedicated to the process of carbon-14 dating of archaelogical findings. Details the process of C14 dating, the history of C14 dating and links to further information.
IT Applications
- Radioactive decay Simulation
- An Excel worksheet that simulates radioactive half life using random numbers, like rolling dice. In cell 2 you enter the number of sides you want on the dice (any whole number bigger than 2). The worksheet then rolls 1000 dice, counts the number of 2's, and then deducts them from the 1000 dice. This continues for 50 rolls of the dice. Pressing shift+F9 will recalculate the worksheet.
- Included is a graph of Dice remaining vs roll number. If you do this for a 3, 6, 9, and 12 sided dice it shows how the half life changes with the probability of getting a 2. Alternatively since the values are in columns you can copy and paste them into a graphing program. We use Autograph. It is heaps better than Excel and you can zoom in to show the halflife value in detail. You can also do a 6th order line of best fit through the data points. I will include some screenshots showing this.
Contributed by Brendon Beard.
Applets
There are an increasing number of applets being developed around the world. Some of the developers have written quite a large number across many fields of physics and science in general. Under the “Links” area of this website there is a section for applets where you can select one of the web site of these developers to see the range that they have produced.Listed below are the applets from these developers for this particular Area of Study. Each has a description to give you some idea of its usefulness and relevance. The first name is the developer, the second is the category or section within their site and the third is the applet’s title.
Please read the descriptions below, and then go to the Links section.
- Walter Fendt/Nuclear Physics/Radioactive Decay Series
- The applet looks at four different decay series. A grid of radioactive elements is displayed, with atomic number up the left and atomic mass across the top. The starting element is placed in the middle of the grid, with other radioactive isotopes and other radioactive elements around it. When you select “Next Decay”, the next element in the series is placed in the middle of the grid, and the other radioactive elements around it also change. This continues until a stable isotope is reached. There is no mention of alpha or beta, but the change in each case can be determined. There are no explanatory notes on the screen.
- Walter Fendt/Nuclear Physics/Law of Radioactive Decay
- The display features an array of 1000 red dots. Once “Start” is selected, the dots begin decaying, and go black. The number left and number decayed are displayed as is the time as fractions of T, the half life. There is some text explaining decay and referring to the decay equation.
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