NUCLEAR (ATOMIC) THEORY

(1) Mankind has for long made use of the energy of flowing water and the energy given out in the burning of wood and charcoal. The first is an instant of gravitational energy and the second that of Chemical energy (which is essentially electrical in origin). In recent years an entirely new energy process, roughly a million times more powerful than any chemical process, has been discovered. The source of this energy lies in the force called "nuclear force" which operates between the constituents, protons and Neutrons of atomic nuclei. It should be observed that unlike gravitational and chemical energy the harnessing of Nuclear energy, also called atomic energy-demands deep insight and considerable progress in fundamental science as distinct from the empirical arts and crafts. The discovery and manipulation of Nuclear energy has only been possible after a gruesome struggle in the acquirement of systematized knowledge and continuous scientific progress, and a set up of elaborate economic system, for centuries.

(2) All matter consists of atoms. The atoms are further coagulated into molecules. All atoms consist of a central core, called the Nucleus that is the heart, around which revolve the electrons, like the planets that revolve around the sun. All nuclei are built from two fundamental particles -- protons and neutrons. The neutron is electrically neutral. The proton has a positive charge equal and opposite to the charge of electron. A neutron is slightly --one part in 759 - heavier than proton which has 1836 times the mass of an electron. A neutron outside a nucleus is an unstable particle: It has a half life of about quarter of an hour and decays into a proton and an electron. The atom:- The mass number (A) of a nucleus is a number of neutrons and protons contained in it. The number of protons defines the atomic number (Z) of the nucleus. The atomic number is characteristic of an element, for example, it is one for Hydrogen, 38 for Strontium and 92 for Uranium. For the same element there can exist nuclei having different values of the mass number (A). They are called isotopes of the given element. A nuclear species (Nuclide) is specified by assigning values for Z and A, Thus Z = 92, A=235, generally written as Uranium-235 (U-235). Uranium 238 contains 92 protons and 146 neutrons, making a total of 238 nucleons -- a "nucleon" stands for either a proton or a neutron. The protons and neutrons are most strongly bound in nuclei of moderate mass numbers, and the binding is relatively weak in heavy as well as light nuclei. It is on this account that heavy nuclei liberate energy on fission and light nuclei on fusion.

(3) The atoms of some elements may have the same atomic number that is the number of protons, but may have different mass numbers that is different number of neutrons contained in the nuclei. For example, the atomic number of Chlorine is 17, that is the Chlorine nucleus has 17 protons. But one Chlorine atom may have 18 neutrons to make the mass number as 35, while another Chlorine atom may have 20 neutrons to make the mass number as 37. Yet they are the atoms of Chlorine, and are called isotopes. This particular kind of variation is of interest to us in this work because the isotopes represent different states of a nucleus that is the heart of the atom. These hearts are in a way in a state of disturbance. The atomic weight is the relative weight of atom.

(4) Fission Process:-

Fission means division of a nucleus into smaller nuclei. Of all the fissile materials the Uranium-235 has been discovered as the most suitable for the fission purpose. If a uranium nucleus is broken into two nuclei of nearly the same size, energy will be released. The process in which a heavy nucleus such as Uranium is broken into two intermediate, nuclei with the release of energy is called a fission reaction or nuclear fission. When an isotope of Uranium-235 is bombarded with the slow neutrons, fission takes place spontaneously. The neutron strikes at the heart of uranium atom and it splits the nucleus into two approximately equal daughter nuclei, say Krypton and Barium Nuclei, knocking out 2 or 3 (The average is 2.5) neutrons from the nucleus of U-235 atom. These two or three knocked out neutrons strike in turn at the heart of 2 or 3 other atoms and knock out 2 or 3 neutrons each and so on so forth, the process continues. And it is then said that a fission chain reaction is built up. Till the whole mass of U-235 becomes incandescent and eventually explodes with wrath, for, the hearts of the atoms having been disturbed, to an ultra-natural extremity, the resultant commotion has approached a limit, where the natural sustenance becomes an impossibility.

(5) Fusion Process:-

In fusion process, simply lighter nuclei are fused together. A fusion process can be realized in a variety of ways, e.g. by bombarding light elements with charged particles obtained from cyclotron and other high-energy-particle accelerators. The fusion process however becomes possible only at exceedingly high temperatures of the order of millions of degrees. The explosion of nuclear bomb using fission chain reaction develops a temperature of the requisite degree and is utilized in achieving fusion reaction in the fusion (that is Hydrogen) bomb. The simplest explanation of this fusion reaction from our point of view could be is that the nucleus (heart) of an atom is fused with the nucleus (heart) of another atom, and the energy is released, when the two hearts are crushed together.

(6) But the nefarious feature of the whole matter is the radiations that is Alpha, Beta, Gamma rays and neutrons which are essentially emitted in the fission reaction. These radiations are undetectable by the five senses, and are not only poisonous, but perniciously, rather wickedly poisonous. They not only kill, but they also cause leprosy, cancer and inheritable monstrosity. These radiations make no difference whether the nuclear (atomic) energy is produced for peaceful purposes, or as a weapon for war destruction. Thus a phrase like "Nuclear Energy For Peaceful Purposes" is only a misnomer and a self-deception, rather a blindness of deluded Humanity. It is a contradiction in terms.