Nuclear fusion power should be much chipper an safer than that from uranium-plutonium fission. The fuel for the fission not only needs expensive mining but also enrichment by a fissile uranium isotope. Conversely, the fusion fuel, deuterium is readily extracted … Continue reading
Indeed, electrons undergo diffraction at a crystalline target. Therefore an electron beam hits a suitable crystal lattice, one can see on a screen an interference pattern typical for waves. The beam here is comprised of a lot of electrons … Continue reading
In the III century BC, Aristarchus of Samos had concluded that the Earth and other planets orbit around the Sun. He also guessed about the rotation of the Earth around its own axis. However, it took a millennium and … Continue reading
On the mind demons… To put things in order, as is well known, you need to do some work. In thermodynamics, this (second) law is expressed in the fact that the disorder of molecule motion in a container with gas, … Continue reading
You never know where you find neutrinos and where you lose In the seventies, experiments were carried out to study the weak interaction in the CERN Big European Bubble Chamber (BEBC). The results of measurement of the interaction parameter, called … Continue reading
Looking through thousands of photos using own eyes, no computers By the end of 1972, in the bubble chamber experiment Gargamelle, for the first time it was recorded an event of interaction of a muon neutrino with an electron, in … Continue reading
On the particles flying out of radioactive minerals time to time In 1895, a study of cathode rays led Wilhelm Roentgen to the discovery of X-radiation called by his name later on. At a meeting of the Parisian Academy, Henri … Continue reading
Following the predictions of his own theoretical formulae The Dirac equation for electrons has a solution not only with positive but also with negative energy. There were attempts to interpret the latter as protons, but those had been quickly discarded … Continue reading
On the difference of radio waves from the sound vibrations in the air Light and sound — that is what from time immemorial people imagined like something flying or self-spreading. Following the ancient scholars, in the Renaissance they believed that … Continue reading
On electron orbiting far from the nucleus of an atom The foundation of modern physics of elementary particles was actually laid by Ernest Rutherford, who was one of the disciples of J.J. Thomson. By 1911, on the basis of experiments … Continue reading
On the emission of quanta of light waves — photons In 1905, Albert Einstein proposed a far-reaching generalization of Planck’s hypothesis of discrete radiation and successfully applied it to explain the properties of the photoelectric effect. Initially, these Einstein’s views … Continue reading
About gradual separation from the usual concepts for the future In 1881, the founder of atomic physics J.J. Thomson noticed that the inertial mass of а charged particle should increase as it moves, and introduced the concept of electromagnetic mass … Continue reading
About elusive location of elementary particles After creating the Schrodinger formalism of wave mechanics, there were a problem of the physical interpretation of the theory, then the belief has been gradually formed that formalism gives just probability of finding a … Continue reading
About the close proximity of neutrons and protons After the discovery of protons, it has been suggested that they make up atomic nuclei. However, this assumption proved untenable, since the ratio of a nuclear charge to its mass does not … Continue reading
About dull belief in the symmetry of interactions Almost immediately after the discovery of the left-right (mirror) symmetry breaking in the weak interactions, it has been also experimentally proven the violation of the charge symmetry, i.e., non-invariance under replacement of … Continue reading
How the understanding of asymmetry of the weak interaction was coming Following pions, in 1947 positively charged kaons were discovered, which decay into either two or three pions. These decays are relatively slow as occur due to the weak interaction. … Continue reading
How they hoped that pions are carriers of the strong interaction… For the first three decades of the XX century, the idea had been formed that interaction between electrically charged particles is due to the exchange of quanta of the … Continue reading