In this post we will see the book The Powerhouse of the Atom by K. Gladkov.
About the Book
The Powerhouse of the Atom is a compact encyclopaedic book for young readers on the structure of matter and atomic energy, treating these themes historically and from the standpoint both of the present-day level of knowledge and the future prospects of atomic and thermonuclear engineering. The original Russian edition of the book was awarded the Rouge et Vert prize, the highest, award of the Brussels international exhibition of popular science books, in 1965. The present English translation is made from the second, revised Russian edition. Although it is designed for extracurricular reading by pupils of the senior forms of secondary schools, The Powerhouse of the Atom can be expected, because of the wide popular interest in power sources of the future and nuclear physics, to appeal to a broad readership of all ages. Like the author’s earlier book The Atom from A to Z (Mir Publishers, 1971), The Powerhouse of the Atom has been translated into French, Spanish, and Arabic, as well as English.
About the Author
The late Kirill Gladkov was a radiophysicist by training. He worked for many years in both industrial enterprizes and research institutions. For his scientific accomplishments, he received an USSR State prize. For a number of years, he wrote popular science articles and books on atomic energy, electronics, television, and high temperature physics. Among his published works is The Atom from A to Z (Mir Publishers, 1971). At the time of his death, Kirill Gladkov was science editor of Tekhnika Molodezhi (Engineering for the Young), one of the Soviet Union’s popular science journals.
Contents
Chapter I ON THE EVE OF A GREAT DISCOVERY
A Dream of the Impossible 9
‘Plum Pudding’ 11
Becquerel’s Mistake 14
Chapter II RADIOACTIVITY
A Polish Girl’s Discovery 17
The Radioactive Families 21
Almost ‘Perpetual Motion’ 25
Chapter III ANOTHER RIDDLE OF NATURE
The Great Emptiness 27
How is the Atom Constructed? 29
What is Meant by ‘Energy Level’ and ‘Electron-Volt’? 31
An Inquisitive Doctor 34
What is an Isotope? 35
An Atom-Sorting Machine 36
The World of Minute Particles and Enormous Energies 38
‘Atomic Artillery’ 36
Chapter IV THE SCIENTISTS’ TOOLS
How They Managed to Count Atoms 43
Fog That Makes the Invisible Visible 45
A Simpler Than Simple Instrument 47
‘Cold Boiling’ 48
A ‘Lilliputian Thunderstorm’ 50
Again That Photographic Plate 52
Larger Calibres 52
At New Cross Roads 57
Chapter V THE KEY TO THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS
New Radiation 61
Enter the Neutron 63
The Clue to Nuclear Structure 65
The Cap of Fortunatus 67
Artificial Radioactivity 69
Another Mistake! 71
The Family of Uranium Isotopes 75
The Cherished Goal Reached 75
Chapter VI ABOUT ‘HORRIBLE THEORY’
Almost Back at the Beginning 79
Particle-Waves and Wave-Particles 80
Paradoxes of Wave Motion 81
How Electromagnetic Waves Are Formed 83
What is Light? 83
Photons, the Particles of Light 83
The Great Law 89
‘What is Mass Defect’? 91
Nuclear Binding Energy 94
But What Is Radioactivity? 99
Briefly About Heat 104
The Thermonuclear Reaction 106
Chapter VII CONTROLLED NUCLEAR FISSION
Obtaining the First Artificial Elements 111
‘Atomic Matches’ 113
A Controlled Chain Reaction 114
Atoms and a Game of Billiards 115
Water That Is Heavier Than Water 117
Critical Mass 118
When It’s Not a Vice To Be Lale 120
A ‘Mirror’ for Neutrons 122
A ‘Bonfire’ in a Laboratory 123
The Atomic Bomb 124
Once More About Neutrons 125
The Road to ‘Transurania’ 128
Chapter VIII NUCLEAR REACTORS
What is a Reactor? 133
In Pencils and in Reactors 134
A Heavy-Water Reactor 136
A Homogeneous Reactor 138
Atomic ‘Flames’ Under Water 139
Chapter IX A BRAND-NEW INDUSTRY
Fertile Materials 143
How Uranium and Thorium are Factories for Nuclear Fuel 147
Nuclear Fuel from Man’s ‘Second Nature’ 149
Thorium-232 151
Stellar Fuel 152
Chapter X THE MARCH OF ATOMIC POWER
Refined 143 Nature’ 149
How Much Longer Will People Bum Money? 157
Steam Boiler vs Nuclear Reactor 158
The First One in the World 160
New Ideas 164
When One Log Becomes Two 169
The Dream Begat a Plan, the Plan a Dream 172
‘S P ’ 174
‘Teaser’ 175
‘Arbus’ 177
Self-Propelled Atomic Generator 178
‘Romashka’ 179
Atoms to Irrigate Deserts 181
Chapter XI THE ‘YOUNGER’ BROTHER OF ATOMIC ENERGY
What Does a Capful of Smoke Cost? 185
Precious Waste 187
‘Labelled’ Atoms 192
Isotopes in Biology 195
Isotopes in Medicine 197
Radiation Hazards 200
A Clock That Measures Millenia 202
‘Hot Labs’ and ‘Iron Hands’ 204
Chapter XII THE FUTURE OF ATOMIC POWER Blazing a New Trail 209
On Engines in General 209
The First Atomic Ice-Breaker—The ‘Lenin’ 212
Atomic Locomotives 215
Atomic Aircraft 216
Interplanetary Spaceships of the Future 219 Ion Engine 221
Photon Rockets 222
A Nuclear Battery 225
Chapter XIII WHAT ARE NUCLEAR FORCES?
A Strange Game 229
What Attracts Electrons to Protons 230
Enter a New Particle, the Meson 232
The Meson Family 233
Superheavy Particles or Hyperons 235
What Can There Be in Common Between a Drop of Water and an Atomic Nucleus? 236
The Puzzle of Particle Interaction 238
The Elusive Neutrino 239
Chapter XIV THE LATEST ON NUCLEAR STRUCTURE
What is a Nuclear ‘Model’? 243
When is a Light Projectile Better Than a Heavy One? 245
Regularities of Electron Showers 248
Small-Calibre Atomic ‘Artillery’ 249
New Discoveries, New Models 250
Can We See Atoms? 251
How They Peeped Inside a Proton 254
Chapter XV COMPETITION WITH SPACE Cosmic Rays 257
Cosmic Rays 257
About ‘Electron-Asses’, ‘Dirac’s Sea’, Anti-Particles, and Other Obscure Things 261
The First Anti-Particle—The Positron 262
There Should Also Be an Anti-Proton 263
Can Anti-Matter Exist? 268
Are There More Symmetries in the World of Microparticles? 268
How ‘Elementary’ are Elementary Particles? 270
Can a Part Be Larger Than the Whole? 271
When Two Times Two Is Too Much 274
Chapter XVI ARTIFICIAL ATOMS
The Positronium, an Artificial Atom 282
Two Photons or Three? 282
Two Photons or Three? 282
Why Spin Is Also Important 283
The Mesonic Atom 285
Chapter XVII CAN THE HYDROGEN BOMB BE TAMED?
What About Making Small Change? 289
The ‘Scream’ of Colliding Galaxies 290
Plasma, the Fourth State of Matter 291
The Miraculous Spark 295
The Energy of a Waterfall in a Glass Tube 297
A ‘Personage’ with a Thousand Whims 299
A Magnetic ‘Cage’ for a ‘Firebird’ 300
If Only… 303
Mir Books 