September 18, 2016 Sunday
Bedtime Story
Gamow Explains Alpha Decay via Quantum Tunneling
Perhaps the most colorful and vibrant personality in the saga of the Big Bang and nucleosynthesis story is the Soviet-Russian-Ukrainian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow.
He was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (the city now lies in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea) in 1904 to parents both of whom were teachers.
His early education took place in Odessa though he shifted to the University of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1923 at the age of 19.
Here he encountered Alexander Friedmann and was fortunate enough to study under him for some time (Friedmann died young in 1925).
In the university he befriended 3 bright minds and formed a club known as The Three Musketeers.
Those 3 were:
1. Lev Landau: who made fundamental contributions to theoretical physics
2. Dmitri Ivanenko: another theoretical physicist who always remained at the forefront of latest physics
3. Matvei Bronstein: a pioneer in quantum gravity who during the Great Purge under Stalin was executed at the young age of 32.
These four young physicists would gather and study and scrutinize the latest papers in quantum mechanics.
From St. Petersburg Gamow moved and worked in almost all the great centers of theoretical physics of that time such as:
Göttingen, Germany
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge under Ernest Rutherford
He studied the process of alpha decay (a type of radioactivity) wherein an atomic nucleus spontaneously emits an alpha particle and transforms into another atomic nucleus that has its atomic mass reduced by 4 and atomic number reduced by 2.
Example:
Uranium 238 decaying to Thorium 234
238 U 92 ~ 234 Th 92 + 4 He 2
238
92U → 234
90Th + 4
2He
The energy required is too high to enable this reaction to occur spontaneously.
Gamow used the principle of quantum tunneling that allows particles to surmount an energy barrier that is not explainable using classical physics.
Gamow's solution was mathematical which he derived by solving the Schrödinger equation for a model nuclear potential.
From this he derived a relationship between the half-life of the alpha particle and the energy of the emission.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
Bedtime Story
Gamow Explains Alpha Decay via Quantum Tunneling
Perhaps the most colorful and vibrant personality in the saga of the Big Bang and nucleosynthesis story is the Soviet-Russian-Ukrainian-American theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow.
He was born in Odessa, Russian Empire (the city now lies in the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea) in 1904 to parents both of whom were teachers.
His early education took place in Odessa though he shifted to the University of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1923 at the age of 19.
Here he encountered Alexander Friedmann and was fortunate enough to study under him for some time (Friedmann died young in 1925).
In the university he befriended 3 bright minds and formed a club known as The Three Musketeers.
Those 3 were:
1. Lev Landau: who made fundamental contributions to theoretical physics
2. Dmitri Ivanenko: another theoretical physicist who always remained at the forefront of latest physics
3. Matvei Bronstein: a pioneer in quantum gravity who during the Great Purge under Stalin was executed at the young age of 32.
These four young physicists would gather and study and scrutinize the latest papers in quantum mechanics.
From St. Petersburg Gamow moved and worked in almost all the great centers of theoretical physics of that time such as:
Göttingen, Germany
Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen
Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge under Ernest Rutherford
He studied the process of alpha decay (a type of radioactivity) wherein an atomic nucleus spontaneously emits an alpha particle and transforms into another atomic nucleus that has its atomic mass reduced by 4 and atomic number reduced by 2.
Example:
Uranium 238 decaying to Thorium 234
238 U 92 ~ 234 Th 92 + 4 He 2
238
92U → 234
90Th + 4
2He
Before Gamow it was not clear how the alpha particle could break free from the strong potential well.
The energy required is too high to enable this reaction to occur spontaneously.Gamow used the principle of quantum tunneling that allows particles to surmount an energy barrier that is not explainable using classical physics.
Gamow's solution was mathematical which he derived by solving the Schrödinger equation for a model nuclear potential.
From this he derived a relationship between the half-life of the alpha particle and the energy of the emission.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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