10 facts about nuclear physcis

A normal misconception about nuclear physics is that it's all about nuclear power and/or atomic bombs, and that that's it. This is far from the truth, and therefore I think 10 facts about nuclear physics is a good idea today :)

1. nuclear physics is  all about the atomic nucleus - discovered by accident by Ernest Rutherford a century ago, when he was bombarding a thin gold foil with alpha particles
2. there's so much we don't know about the heart of the atom - the nucleus; and that's why we are a lot of people around the world still spending all of our lives to study it, and try to understand the nucleus and the nuclear force that holds it all together (how does it really work, and why, and how big can a nucleus actually get?)
3. all atoms have a nucleus - nuclear physics is as much about the non-radioactive nuclei (stable gold, stable oxygen, stable iron), as the radioactive ones (thorium, uranium, plutonium) 
4. the "applied part" of my phd thesis is about nuclear power, which is of course also one part of nuclear physics - how to produce energy from big nuclei that splits in two (you get heat and you can boil water and you get steam and then you can generate electricity)
5. I don't want to lie; atomic bombs is also something that some people (not in Norway) study - knowledge about nuclear physics can be used in such a destructive way. As can most knowledge if I think of it...
6. knowledge about nuclear physics tells us about the creation of the elements - what happens in the sun and similar stars; how do they get their energy, and what happens there? In stars like our sun, elements all the way up to iron are produced
7. no elements that are heavier than iron can be produced in stars/the sun, but we know they exist  so they must have been created somehow (we know gold exist, we know thorium exist, we know there is lead - to give some examples), but not where they came from. Creation of these heavy elements is actually one of the great mysteries, and we think they are made in explosions or collisions in space. We use nuclear physics to try to figure out how and where all these elements are created.
8. one of the really nice applications of nuclear physics is radiation therapy. Atomic radiation may cause cancer, but it may also cure cancer <3
9. if you've ever had a CT scan, you've experienced applied nuclear physics. Think about it: it's kind of awesome that we can actually look inside the body, and get really great images of the inside, without even cutting it open...!
10. PET, which is short for positron electron tomography is another imaging technique in the nuclear medicine, where you actually detect gamma radiation from an electron that meets its anti particle, the positron (awesome, seriously!). And from this you can create beautiful three dimensional images of for example a tumour inside the body

Nuclear physics is seriously awesome <3<3<3

Facts on a Friday - Beta radiation

Hi everyone, sorry I've been quiet since Sunday! I was planning to share my plan of the week on Monday, but then the day just sort of disappeared, and I really don't know what happened to the rest of the week either (I know that yesterday disappeared since I was in charge of the nuclear physics group's christmas party, and this weekend, including today, I'm at Trysil, but Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday I really don't know...:/)

Anyway, here are 10 facts about Beta radiation, since today is Friday and it's rime for facts (read about Alpha radiation HERE):

1. beta radiation consists of particles - you can call it betas, beta particles or beta radiation.
2. beta particles (or betas or beta radiation) is just exactly the same as electrons - beta particles are free electrons.
3. you can have either beta plus or beta minus radiation (so it's actually not exactly true that beta particles are electrons, because if they're beta plus particles, then they're positrons, and if they're beta minus, then they're electrons).
4. I think beta decay (the process where a nucleus emits a beta particle) is really weird: I mean, a neutron actually changes into a proton (or a proton changes into a neutron, if it's a beta plus).
5. beta minus decay is also called electron emission, and beta plus decay is called positron emission.
6. when a nucleus emits (sends out) a beta particle, it transforms into a nucleus that has a higher proton number (hydrogen would for example turn into a helium nucleus, since helium has one more proton than hydrogen) - this also means, that, yes, you can make gold from platinum, that has one less proton than gold.
7. beta particle a are sometimes relativistic - that means that they move with a speed that's close to the speed of light, and that makes them seriously difficult to deal with (for instance theoretical calculations).
8. if the beta particle is emitted in air, it usually moves a few meters before it is stopped (it has a range of a couple of meters in air). In water it moves only a few centimeters. This means they're quite easy to shield yourself from...
9. most fission products emit beta (minus) radiation.
10. beta radiation can cause actual "burns" on your skin; you can see (and feel) that your skin turns red, if you're very close to an intense source of beat radiation.

Starting the day with some fusion

This day started with fusion: at 07:55 I was at NRK, to be a guest at P13, Tidenes Morgen, to talk about fusion. Right after this I spent an hour on the phone, talking to a journalist in Vårt Land, about fusion (and what is sacred to me, and what I ask for forgiveness for, and such). The reason for this was, not surprisingly, the new fusion reactor in Germany - the Stellarator called Wendelstein 7-X, where they want to recreate what happens at the sun; you know, let tiny nuclei melt together to form heavier nuclei and energy at the same time (sort of the  holy grail of nuclear physics/energy).

Of course: before any of this, the sun rose, it was a beautiful morning, and I could see and feel the energy from fusion from our nearest star <3 To me, every day is fusion day :)

The rest of the day has been spent on my article... I started the seminar with a great talk/discussion with Sunniva Supervisor, and then the rest of the day has actually been quite good. There's still a lot of work to do, but I'm positive :) Now I just have to make my self a deadline for the different parts remaining to be done in this article, and then I just have to keep those deadlines, and then I'm done - and can continue with article number three and four, and then the actual thesis, and then I'm done. Easy :P

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I must say: I love <3 getting your snaps - cool assignments, workout and chemistry, preparing for talks about colliding dark matter - love love love it! I really want to answer all of you, so let me say I'm so sorry if I don't manage!

Now it's nighty night here at Soria Moria; tomorrow I'm going to work A LOT (at least 7 hours, according to my plan form Monday) on the article. Sleep tight everyone!

10 reasons why I love nuclear physics

Today I've been preparing for a talk that i'll be giving tomorrow: it's for high school students that are visiting the University, and my title is 10 reasons why I love nuclear physics.

Well, the title I was given was 10 reasons why I like nuclear physics, but of course I had to change the like into a love; I guess with me there's no in between - I either love something, or I hate it, and I love nuclear physics <3

1. the idea of the atom is really a philosophical and "simple" idea
2. the atom is more or less all empty space
3. the nuclear force is the strongest one we know of - when we release it, fascinating (and scary) things can happen
4. things are strange: mass can become energy, and energy can become mass (Einstein, Einstein, Einstein)
5. nuclear power is environmental friendly: 1.053 grams of uranium-235 that all fission release the same amount of energy as if you burn 4 tons of coal
6. nuclear power is the safest way (of all) of producing power, but interestingly that isn't the common perception
7. it's all kind of mysterious - the nucleus radiates, and there's a lot of fear around this, but all in all it's "just" energy :)
8. knowledge that can be used to produce weapons of mass destruction can also be used to cure cancer <3
9. it's still sooo much we don't understand; 100 years after Rutherford discovered the atomic nucleus, we are still doing extremely similar experiments
10. the study of (some of) the smallest things (the nucleus) is suddenly the same as studying the biggest things (big explosions in space)

I have to get up super early tomorrow morning, to finish my slides, so I think I'll just say good night, and sleep tight <3<3<3

Facts on a Friday: 10 reasons why neutrons are really cool

Today I just wanted to tell you a little bit about neutrons, and why I think they're the coolest. You know, in a way they're like a Chanel purse - classical, and never out of style ;)

speaking of Chanel: I've been thinking that I should buy a black Chanel purse as a gift for my self when I have finished my PhD, but maybe I should consider the pink one instead...?

So here are my ten reasons why I think neutrons are really cool:

1. Neutrons have no charge
2. They decide if an atom is stable or radioactive
3. A single neutron can sneak its way into a nucleus and make fission <3
4. It's an unstable particle with a half life of a little bit more than 10 minutes
5. I sort of envision them as white dots, or tiny billiard balls...
6. A free neutron turns into hydrogen (meaning that the neutron is actually a radioactive particle - radioactivity is just soooo fascinating :D )
7. Neutrons are the "flame" in the fuel of a nuclear reactor
8. Neutrons gives different doses (of radiation) depending on their  energy 
9. You can make a neutron from a proton and a proton from a neutron (almost sounds like witchcraft, or something)
10. If neutrons have the right energy, they can do quite a lot of damage - but you can just use normal water as a shield, and you're fine ;)

I just love them - neutrons are without doubt my favorite. They're fabulous ✨

Do you have a favorite particle?

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PS: I am working on Question of the month (which is actually not a nuclear physics one this first time) - the plan was to publish it yesterday, but since I (unfortunately? :P ) have another job than just being a blogger, I haven't been able to finish it yet , and I'm really sorry :/ However, I'm still inside my own "limits", since I said it would come this week, and even though it's Friday, it's not the end of the week just yet ;)

Upset and annoyed

 

Today I was part of the "panel of scientists" on Abels Tårn - the radio show that airs on Friday mornings at NRK P2 (this particular show will not air until December; probably December 4th). This time was sort of a "special edition", where the audience were all high school students (and their teachers), and all the questions were from these students.

So far, so good: GREAT FUN! (For the first time, I was on the show together with Anders - that didn't make it any less fun <3 )

After the show, one teacher came up to me (at least I think tha's what she was), and told me she had two questions. 

Great, I thought...

But  they weren't questions, they were more like "questions":

The first one was if a Molten Salt Reactor will release less radioactivity during normal operation than today's reactors, and the second one I'm not sure if she ever asked; except she was asking me about all these Germans that had written stuff in German, and I said (several times - at first I was polite) that I don't speak German, so, no, I have not read these things (but I should, according to her). She was laughing in my face when I said that there are no radioactive releases during normal operation of reactors even today (and of course not in the future), and just told me I was wrong (and said that if I just read these German things I would know that I was wrong...). Still I didn't just leave (that would be rude), I tried to talk about radiation doses and limits - it wasn't very successful.

This teacher pretended to have questions, but was not interested in listening to what I said, and just went on and on and on about new German titles that I should (have) read. It was annoying and rude, and I'm still kind of upset, actually :/

 

all photos: Yngve Vogt

Maybe the worst part is that this teacher (if that's what she was) was stealing time from the students that had several questions for me, and that I would really have wanted to talk to - not to tell them so much about nuclear physics, but about science, and research, and all the amazing possibilities...

BTW: Thank you so much to the student who just wanted to tell me that she really enjoyed my TEDxOslo talk <3 The talk from LeRosey, last year, is HERE, and the one from Bergen, a couple of weeks ago will come very soon (stay tuned).

PS: It's TOTALLY OK to disagree with my view on nuclear power, but please don't pretend to ask me questions when you have no intensions of listening to what I say, and not respect me as a scientist. I try very hard not to pretend to be an "expert" on stuff taht I'm not working on, so don't pretend that I know nothing about my own f*****g field of science. Thank you <3 

PPS: Besides the behavior of this teacher, it was a great day, and I had a lot of fun being part of Abels Tårn today!

Nuclear force, nuclear power...

One thing that is kind of funny is that in Norwegian the word for "nuclear force" and "nuclear power" is the same - "kjernekraft".
It's the same word that describes the force that holds the atomic nucleus together and the way of producing power by splitting atoms. So in Norwegian you just can't be against kjernekraft, because it makes no sense: If you're against kjernekraft you're against atomic nuclei, and basically more or less everything, since there is nothing bigger than elementary particles - there wouldn't even be bigger particles like protons or neutrons, since they are made up from quarks that need kjernekraft to exist...

(PS: Of course I'm not really that pedantic - I do understand what people mean when they say they're against kjernekraft. But as I've said earlier, I actually don't understand how it is possible to worry about climate change, and not be pro nuclear, so I guess in a way I'll still say it makes little sense to be against kjernekraft ;) )

 

no flowers, no sun, no sunset without kjernekraft...

#thinkaboutthat
#tenklittpådet

Fission on a Friday - 10 facts

It’s been a long time since I did a “10 facts” blog post (last one was about heavy water) - too long, I think, so it’s about time I do it again now ;)

I can’t promise there’ll one every week (I’ve tried those every week kind of blog posts before, and there’s always some reason - like my PhD work - why it’s difficult to see it through ), but it would have been fun if 10 facts could be like a Friday thing. Anyway, we’ll see how it goes, but today is Fission Friday; here are ten facts about fission:

1. fission is when a (heavy) nucleus splits into two (lighter) nuclei
2. an example of fission is when uranium-235 is hit by one neutron and becomes barium-144, krypton-90, and 2 free neutrons (same number of particles before and after fission: 1+235 = 144+90+2 = 236 :D)
3. the light nuclei (like barium and krypton) are called fission products
4. fission can be induced, which means that it happens because a neutron hits the nucleus (like in the picture) - a little bit like the neutron is a knife that cuts the nucleus into two pieces <3
5. fission can be spontaneous, which means it just happens - no neutron or other particle hitting the nucleus - the nucleus just suddenly splits
6. fission is my favourite decay mode (I think) <3<3<3
7. a nucleus that will fission when it’s hit by a neutron is called (a) fissile (nucleus)
8. the energy that is released in fission (when one nucleus splits) is 200 mega electron volts - which is the same as if 50 million carbon atoms burns and produces CO2 (yes, 1 versus 50 million to get the same amount of energy!)
9. most of the energy released in fission comes from kineticc energy of the fission products - which is energy from motion of the fission products (they are moving fast away from each other)
10. I think the energy release in fission is really really fascinating

If you think it's a good idea to do more "10 facts" blog posts, please tell me what you what you want to read about <3

 

Ok, I gotta run now, to catch my flight back to Oslo - since I've been giving a talk about motivation for science in Bodø today. If you follow me on Snapchat (sunnivarose), you can see the super cool LEGO rose i got after the talk (the talk was for First Lego League, so it was 100% right to get a rose made out of LEGO :D).

OSCAR #happy

So we just finished our group meeting, and let me just say YEAY!!!! The group meeting today was really nothing else but drinking Cava and eating (a very rich) chocolate cake (all meetings should be like this ;) )...
The reason? Today it's official: the Norwegian Research Council has approved our application for new detectors at the Oslo Cyclotron Laboratory ❤️ We are getting 21 million NOK for replacing all of our old sodium iodide detectors (CACTUS - may you rest in peace), with new lanthanide bromide detectors (OSCAR - we welcome you!).

Read more about here (we are the "NEW GENERATION SCINTILLATOR DETECTORS FOR NUCLEAR RESEARCH IN NORWAY")

This is soooo exciting - experiments in Oslo will be better in aboslutely every way! 

Nuclear physics *heart*

Nuclear physics is often thought of as nuclear power, but nuclear physics is really the investigation and understanding of (atomic) nuclei, and nuclear power is just one of the applications of nuclear physics. 

The nucleus (that we study) is the heart <3 of the atom, and it's where almost all mass of matter resides. Nuclei consist of neutrons and protons; ranging from the smallest one ("normal" hydrogen) with just one proton (and zero neutrons), to the biggest with a few hundred neutrons and protons. (You can't make a nucleus with just one neutron, you have to have at least one proton). The nucleus is small, but large enough to do stuff like vibrate and rotate (what the nuclear physicist would call "show collective degrees of freedom").

A major motivation for studying the atomic nucleus is to gain a fundamental understanding of our world; its origin and future, and its current state. Nuclear physics can explain how stars work to release more or less all the useful energy in the world, while they at the same time produce the different elements - from hydrogen to iron. (Therefore there is today a lot of collaboration between nuclear physicists and astrophysicists.)

In addition to nuclear power, nuclear medicine (medical diagnosis and treatments) is another important application of nuclear physics <3 <3 <3

Getting there...

My talk is tomorrow.

It's not finished yet.

I feel nervous, but also excited...

Nervous, because I wish I had come further than I have, and that I understood "everything". Excited, because I actually do have results, and they are nice, and they make sense. They make me believe that I will actually do this; not just the talk tomorrow, but I will finish my next paper (article/publication) in June (or maybe July - but hoping for June). After that I will start directly to analyse the second part of the uranium experiment, and hopefully it will be much "easier" since I have already done it once ;) 

I'm in my bed right now, working on the presentation for tomorrow, which is around 11. Think I will work for around 30 more minutes, and then go to sleep. I'd rather get up at 5 tomorrow morning, and finish it then.

Wish me luck <3

#oslogamma

Good morning everyone <3

I'm at the University, attending the second day of the "5th Workshop on Nuclear Level Density and Gamma Strength" - the conference/workshop that our research group is arranging. Nuclear Level Densities and Gamma Strength (Functions) are fundamental properties of the atomic nucleus, and they are sort of the main goal of my data analysis just now.

I think my favourite talk so far was the one called "Neutron capture cross sections for the astrophysical r-process" by professor Artemis Spyrou from Michigan State University. Nuclear astro physical applications are really exciting <3 Unfortunately I missed the first talk this morning (stupid rain), which was by Luciano Moretto - I really regret this, because he always gives great talks...:/

Anyway; I'll be spending the rest of the week in this same auditorium, listening to talks - together with around 60 other nuclear physicist from around the world (West Coast of US, South Africa, and India, for example :) )

I just realized that a hashtag has occured; #oslogamma! I don't think it will be the most popular hashtag on twitter, but at least it's there, if you want to follow ;)

Ok, now I have to pay close attention to all the talks - or, if there's something I don't understand ANYTHING of, I need to prepare my own talk that I'm giving on Thursday. Also, I need to work more on the actual analyzis of my data, so that I have more than just one plot to show...that would be a very short talk ;)

Favourite Reactor

Ok, so my absolute favourite nuclear reactor is....

...the SUN! Of course.

And I simply LOVE that because of the fantastic nuclear fusion reactor, just about 8 light minutes (149 600 000 km) away, I can wear open toe stilettoes as my lecture shoes - as I did today <3 <3 <3 (Love these shoes too, btw; aren't they pretty?)

Anyway: I think it's so funny that solar power really is nuclear power, since the sun is a gigantic nuclear power plant (or continuously exploding atomic bomb...:P), that gets its energy by fusion of really light nuclei, like hydrogen and helium.

It's soooo cool that you get an energy release when light nuclei fuse to form a heavier one; as always it's because mass and energy are really the same (Einstein again), and the two light nuclei weigh more (when you add them up) than the heavier nucleus you get after they fuse. The "lost" mass has been converted to energy :D

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Ok, now I have to run, to get to an interview - I just had to say hi and tell you about my favourite reactor.

Do you have a favourite (nuclear) reactor?

-S

Happy neutron anniversary!

Today it´s 83 years since Chadwick´s paper in Nature: Possible Existence of a Neutron, where he predicted that there had to be a neutral particle (neutron <3<3<3) in the atomic nucleus, in addition to the proton.

"Up to the present, all the evidence is in favour of the neutron, while the quantum hypothesis can only be upheld if the conservation of energy and momentum be relinquished at some point."

He was right, of course, and in May the same year he had another paper in Nature - The Existence of a Neutron - and he got the nobel prize in physics in 1935 for the discovery of the neutron. 

You can read the entire thing (which is only one page) HERE :)

Breathe

New week, new possibilities, new plan.

But first; an important nuclear jubileum today. One of my favourite elements was discovered - or, chemically identified - on this day, 74 years ago :D Glenn T. Seaborg, Edwin McMillan, Joseph W. Kennedy, and Arthur Wahl bombarded uranium with deuterons and identified PLUTONIUM (element number 94).

Plutonium is of course known for being used in nuclear weapons and reactors, but it´s also used in artificial pacemakers for hearts, and to power units in space probes <3

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This week is about an exciting fission experiment at the lab in Orsay, outside of Paris, and what I call the "bridge chapter" in my thesis - I have to make a "bridge" between basic nuclear experiments and full core reactor simulations. This is what I see as the most challenging part of my thesis so far (and that´s probably the reson why I´ve been postponing to write for a very long time).
I think it´ll bee a good week, but the next 24 hours are critical ones (a little bit too much to do in too little time)...

10 facts about heavy water

So yesterday I was interviewed by the newspaper Dagbladet about heavy water (since they´ve made this new show about the Norwegian heavy water and how they bombed the factory during world war 2 - love the show, btw :D ), and I was thinking It´s really long since I´ve had a "10 facts" blogpost, and I think this is the perfect occasion! I therefore give you 10 facts about heavy water <3 <3 <3

1. Heavy water is heavy - around 10% heavier than light water (as a nuclear physicist working with reactors I actually call normal water for light water :V)
2. Heavy water is chemically called D2O, instead of H2O (normal/light water)
3. The D in D2O is for deuteron
4. A deuteron is a heavy version of hydrogen (an isotope of hydrogen), and it´s heavier because it has a neutron in its nucleus in addition to the proton (normal hydrogen has only that one proton in its nucleus) - thus a deuteron is twice as heavy as a hydrogen
5. Heavy water can be used as a moderator (something that slows down the speed neutrons) in a nuclear reactor (this is what the Germans wanted it for during WW2)
6. If you use heavy water in a reactor you can run it on natural uranium - you don´t have to enrich the uranium (like the Americans were doing in the Manhattan project)
7. Heavy water doesn´t "eat" neutrons, like light water does - which is why we love <3 it
8. Germany wanted to make plutonium - and it´s a really good idea to do this in a reactor with heavy water and natural uranium
9. Norway doesn´t produce heavy water anymore, but we use it in our two research reactors, in Kjeller and Halden :D
10. India are researching reactors using heavy water and thorium - which is really cool!

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This is a picture of me, wearing a kimono, writing about heavy water in my living room:

Kjernefysikkhistorie - første sovjetiske bombetest

I dag er det et ikke så hyggelig 65-årsjubileum... 

Den 29. august 1949 gjennomførte Sovjetunionen sin aller første atomprøvesprengning: i det som i dag er Kazakhstan sprengte de bomben med det klingende navnet "RDS-1". RDS-1 liknet på "Fat Man" - bomben som USA detonerte over Nagasaki i 1945; altså en plutoniumsbombe med 22 kilotonn TNT sprengkraft. 

Prøvesprengningen førte til at USA videre utviklet et kraftigere våpen, nemlig det som kalles termonukleære våpen eller hydrogenbombe - altså fusjonsvåpen (dette er også atomvåpen, men kraftigere enn de som feks ble brukt under krigen - som var fisjonsvåpen). Den første hydrogenbomben ble testet i 1952, mens Sovjetunionen testet sin første fusjonsbombe i 1953.

 (Bildene har jeg lånt fra Physics Today)

Fusion

Hei strålende!  I går var vi ute og nøt de deilige strålene som kommer fra den fine hydrogenbomben der oppe på himmelen, som bare står der og eksploderer.  Tenk at solen har et sånn varme og trykk at hydrogen og helium og sånn bare smelter sammen, og frigjør kjernekraft; og det bare fortsetter og fortsetter og fortsetter (ikke evig, da, men lenge nok ;) ). Hadde vært veldig gøy hvis vi fikk til kontrollert fusjon her på jorden óg (det er bare bittelitt vanskelig å prøve å få til sånt varme og trykk som det er på ildkulen der oppe, her nede), da, men enn så lenge så er det nok fisjon av tunge atomkjerner som er kjernekraftveien å gå...

Det var i alle fall en nydelig dag, både for liten og stor;  vi var en hel liten Rose-gjeng på Sognsvann i går: mamma,  meg, Alexandra,  og lillesøster Carina med sine to barn - Andrea og Arian. 

gårsdagens outfit: mørkerosa Converse/denim shorts/løs, hvit singlett/hodeskjerf/stor sekk som rommet alt fra håndklær til rosé-vin

Alexandra og Andrea på t-banen på vei hjem, med dagens andre is ;)

Jeg syns jo det er veldig morsomt at varmen fra solen kommer pga kjernekraft - slik at nesten all energi har opphavet i kjernekraft (solkraft er overført kjernekraft, og bio, vann, vind osv er jo overført solkraft, som altså er overført kjernekraft) ♥

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Nå er jeg en liten tur innom kontoret; har så smått begynt forberedelsene av semesterets første foredrag, som skal holdes neste uke på Landskonferansen om Fysikkundervisning - gleder meg! 

Freedom

Når den norske sommeren er på sit aller mest fantastiske,  som nå, da er det ganske fint med den friheten mhear i jobbe som forsker. Å bare kunne ta med seg artiklene du skal lese, det du skriver på, tankene dine ut i solen. Selv fant jeg ut at det var et hån mot solen å sitte ensom inne på kontoret i dag, så jeg to med meg litt arbeid, en bikini og en flaske vann ut på Hovedøya.8

Så nydelig å bare sanse, og jeg må bare tenke på hvor fantastisk det er at alt dette rundt oss; skyene, vannet, jeg - alt er satt sammen av atomer,  og atomene et dannet i døende sjener, og egentlig er vi alle bare  stjernestøv ♥♥♥

Håper alle gjør det de kan for å nyte dagene! Selv tenker jeg at jeg skal bli flinkere til å leve litt mer i nuet; nyte det øyeblikket som er akkurat nå, og  ikke  hele tiden tenke på hva som kommer til å være om et halvt år, neste uke, eller til og med i morgen ♥

Trinity - kjernefysiskkhistorie (delayed)

Jada, dere leser riktig; atter en gang er jeg litt sent ute med å skrive om en stor hendelse i (kjernefysikk)historien, men det er vel kanskje ikke helt galt at det skjer sånn midt på sommeren, eller hva? Føler jeg blir ganske omtåket av solen om dagen, i alle fall, og det blir vanskeligere å konsentrere sag :P

Uansett, den 16. juli 1945 ble den aller første atombombetesten - Trinity - foretatt i ørkenen i New Mexico, og det er altså 69 år siden menneskeheten fikk kjernefysiske våpen.

(bilde fra I Fucking Love Science)

Dette bildet ble altså tatt 0.016 sekunder (bare litt mer enn en hundredel av et sekund) etter detonasjon av våpenet; og da er denne ildkulen allerede 200 meter i diameter - ganske ekstremt! Allikevel var denne testen bare en bitteliten sak sammenliknet med de kraftigste våpnene som er testet i løpet av den kalde krigen: Trinity hadde en sprengkraft på ca 20 kilotonn TNT, mens det kraftigste våpenet noen sinne var 30 000 ganger kraftigere...!

Som sikkert alle vet så var det videre resultatet at de japanske byene Hiroshima og Nagasaki ble bombet med atomvåpen under en måned senere; første og eneste (og la det for all del forbli slik) gang at denne typen våpen er brukt mot mennesker. Trinity var et plutoniumsvåpen sånn som den over Nagasaki - i motsetning til uranvåpen som ble brukt mot Hiroshima.

Robert Oppenheimer, som var leder for Manhattanprosjektet (der de jobbet med å utvikle atombomben) sa i et intervju i 1965:

We knew the world would not be the same. A few people laughed, a few people cried. Most people were silent. I remembered the line from the Hindu scripture, the Bhagavad Gita; Vishnu is trying to persuade the Prince that he should do his duty and, to impress him, takes on his multi-armed formand says, 'Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.' I suppose we all thought that, one way or another.