Chem+A+D+Per+Group+3

** ** Table of Contents: ** > >
 * The Discovery of Nuclear Fission and Artificial Elements
 * A Short Biography of Enrico Fermi
 * How Nuclear Fission Works
 * The First Artifical Elements
 * Effects of Plutonium
 * Interesting Facts!

Enrico Fermi was a famous Physicist born on September 29th, 1901 in Rome. At an early age Fermi developed advanced science and mathematical skills and went on to receive scholarships from the Italian Government which allowed him to study with physicists such as Prof. Max Born. With such a strong background in physics Fermi became a professor of [|Theoretical Physics] at the University of Rome. Fermi spent his early years as a professor experimenting with electrodynamics. In 1934, he developed the ß-decay theory adding to the work of various theoretical physicists such as Wolfgang Pauli. He continued this work, eventually aiding in the discovery of slow neutrons and nuclear fission. Though Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman are credited with discovering nuclear fission, Fermi noticed the possibility of a chain reaction of radioactive material. In fact, in 1938 Fermi was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics "for his demonstrations of the existence of new radioactive elements produced by neutron irradiation, and for his related discovery of nuclear reactions brought about by slow neutrons," (Nobelprize.org). Through continuous research and experimentation, Fermi’s work eventually lead to the [|Atomic Pile] and a controlled radioactive chain reaction on December 2nd, 1942. Due to his extensive research and the success of his experiments, Fermi's work is considered essential to the Manhattan Project. Eventually, Fermi became a citizen of the United States of America and became a professor at the Institute for Nuclear Studies of the University of Chicago. Fermi died in Chicago on November 28th, 1954 at 53 years of age.

How Fission Works
=== === Fission occurs when a neutron is sent colliding into the nucleus of an atom. Since neutrons do not have a charge, they can be added/subtracted/"thrown at" the neucleus of an atom without affecting the charge of that particular atom. When the neutron strikes the atom, it causes the atom to split up into numerous neutrons and fission fragments. The neutrons then have enough momentum to continue moving until they crash into the neucleus of another atom. This continues and is where the term "chain reaction" comes from when referring to Neuclear Fission (what Fermi successfully completed).

Uranium-235 Atoms are commonly used because when fission takes place, radioactivity is emmitted from the element. This is what nuclear power plants most commonly use. When the process is controlled, Nuclear Power can be created, however, if the process is not controlled, the effects can be devistating. An example of an uncontrolled nuclear reaction is Nuclear Weapons.

The discovery of Fission is important to History because without it the Atomic Bomb, other nuclear weapons, and nuclear power would not have been discovered. This discovery had a profound impact on the way the world views and viewed war. During the Cold War there were constant threats involving Nuclear Weapons, but none were ever set off, and since there was no extreme combat, the war remained "cold."
 * Fission Video**

media type="youtube" key="DT0ZNPz3t2o&hl=en&fs=1" height="344" width="425"
===     <span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">                        The First Artificial Elements   === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">After the discovery of Fission a young scientist at Berkley Univeristy named Edwin McMillian started to experiment bombarding Uranium with Hydrogen2 (Hydrogen with one neutron). Eventually he created a heavier Uranium isotope and then a whole new element. Originally this element was called element 93, but was later named neptuinium, and it was the first transuranium element. They found that neptuinium was strange in that it did not act like other elements from its periodic colum but acted more like a rare earth metal. In 1940, Glenn Seaborg found alpha decay in neptuinium. The simplist explination was uranium contamination but some quick test ruled out this possiblity. Then, in 1941, Seaborg was experimenting with uranium to make element 93 when something intresting happened. The Uranium became neptuinium but then transformed again into element 94. This equation was written to show the change. === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">92U238 + 1H2 --> 93Np238 + 2n                    === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">93Np238 --> 94Pu238 + β- particles                    === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">94Pu238 --> α particles                    === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">media type="custom" key="2099725"                    === ===<span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="COLOR: #000000; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman', Times, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Comic Sans MS', cursive"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Georgia, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Impact, Charcoal, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 90%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Tahoma, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 80%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 120%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Palatino Linotype', 'Book Antiqua', Palatino, serif">Element 94 was named Plutonium. Seaborg's discovery of how to create plutonium led directly to the creation of nine new elements. The most improtant discovery, however, was made by McMillian and his team when they isolated a heavier Plutonium isotope called plutonium239. They discovered that when you bombared Plutonium239 with slow neutrons that it unleashed a humongous amount of energy, and they immediatly started to mass produce it. Plutonium239 transitioned us from the industrial age to the atomic age. Plutonium and Uranium are so powerful that even though there are only 64 nuclear powerplants in the US, 20% of our energy comes from nuclear fission. The plutonium239 discovered thanks to the work of McMillian and Seaborg gave America an abundant and powerful source of electricty. ===
 * Effects of Plutonium **

**Interesting facts:** "Enrico Fermi Biography." __NobelPrize.org__. 1938. The Nobel Foundation. 6 Oct. 2008 http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1938/fermi-bio.html. Farmer, Delphine. "An Elementary Problem." Berkley Science Review. 6 Oct. 2008 http://sciencereview.berkeley.edu/articles.php?issue=1&article=elementary. "Frequently Asked Questions." __STP Nuclear Power Plant__. STPNOC. 6 Oct. 2008 <http://www.stpnoc.com/faqs.htm>. "Basic Nuclear Fission." __ThinkQuest__. 1998. 7 Oct. 2008 http://library.thinkquest.org/17940/texts/fission/fission.html. "Nuclear Fission: Basics." 7 Oct. 2008 http://www.atomicarchive.com/fission/fission1.shtml. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-size: 10.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"> Graphics from: http://www.phy.mtu.edu/images/area/EnricoFermi.jpg [|http://www.youtube.com] http://www.skoool.co.za/studynotes/science/uploadedImages/nucleur%20fission.jpg http://www.atomicarchive.com/Fission/Fission4.shtml [|http://www.voki.com]
 * The sum of the mass of the fragments (nuclei and fragments) after fission does not equal the original mass of the atom; it is about 0.1% less. An equation developed by Einstein accounts for this missing .01%, saying that it has been converted to energy.
 * "In 10 generations there are 1,024 fissions and in 80 generations about 6 x 10 **23** (a mole) fissions." - (atomicarchive.com)
 * Up to three neutrons can be released during the fission of Uranium-235, but not all of these will continue in the chain reaction.
 * Two of the nine elements discovered after Plutomium239, Americium and Curium, were nearly impossible to tell apart at first. This caused so much confusion that two of the propsed names were "Pandimonium" and "Delirium".
 * Citations:**