Impact_of_the_Manhattan_Project

The Social Impact of the Manhattan Project • The social significance of the Manhattan Project can be broken up into four time period which highlight impact the Manhattan project had. These time periods are the pre 1940’s, 1940’s, the subsequent 30 Years and the Present. • Pre 1940’s i. The roots of the Manhattan came from two men, Albert Einstein and Enrico Fermi. Albert Einstein wrote a letter to the President Roosevelt expressing his concerns about the Nazis possible advances in Nuclear Weaponry. Enrico Fermi’s display of a nuclear fission reaction and the enormous amounts of power it possessed spiked the interest of the army and promptly accelerated their research in the direction of the formation of nuclear weaponry, known as the Manhattan Project. The undertaking of this project was socially beneficial as it would ensure people safety despite the fact that only qualified people knew of it. • During the 1940’s i. Only the scientific community knew what was going on until 1945. The scientists were both excited and scared with the enormous energy potential, but also the enormous destructive potential. ii. After 1945, shock, horror and outcry over the devastation of the bombs and the subsequent radiation sicknesses and happiness as the war were over and their loved ones returned home. This created immediate controversy within the society towards the use of Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Research. • The Subsequent 30 Years i. Fear was beginning to develop over who had the Bomb and who was developing it. It was the age of politically the cold war, international spies, ‘Nuclear Standoff’, development of the Nuclear Power station; lots of cheaper energy, radioisotopes showing potential to cure many diseases, nuclear submarines for greater military potential. With these progressions in the stages of the Manhattan project came heightened concerns over nuclear accidents and the radioactive fallout from the nuclear tests being performed. ii. This continued concern and negative publicity on the Manhattan project forced the research to be kept secret as the military was unsure on the developments made by rivalling countries e.g. the Nazis , the scientist were aware of the power involved in Nuclear reactions and hence understood the need to keep their research a secret. • The Present i. In the present are still heavily supported concerns about nuclear accidents and the methods of disposal of the toxic waste. The nuclear waste isn’t the only concern surrounding nuclear research, it is feared that small militant nations have nuclear capability. It’s becoming an ethical issue in the advancements of Nuclear Science, which raises the question when is enough, enough' ii. On the other hand the benefits such as the applications to medical science-cures for cancer, disease resistant plants in agriculture , better food storage, longer shelf life, cheaper produce, in industry- easier detection of flaws and cracks , cheaper services. Today there is much more control over the development of nuclear development, - no new power generators have been built for over 20 years, especially after Chernobyl in 1986. • Although the Manhattan Project was predominantly concerned with the formation and deployment of Nuclear weaponry, many different applications of their research found use in society e.g. Medicinal Science. • Thanks to the Manhattan Projects work on Nuclear Fission, cancers are now curable through the use of radioisotopes and their medicinal applications are continuing to grow, the radioisotopes formed through nuclear fission are also widely used in industry to determine the stress on welds and as a thickness gauge. • The uses for radioisotopes are continually being found and their importance on society is growing. By evaluating the pro’s and con’s and considering the historical advancements made by using The Manhattan Project research the continuing of nuclear research is considered a social benefit rather than a social burden. • The Manhattan Projects research from the early 1940’s until now has had a huge social impact both good and bad and without the work in the Manhattan project, our society today would be rather severely disadvantaged in contrast to our society with Nuclear Science. A named isotope used in Engineering- Cobalt-60. • As the β-decay energy is low and easily shielded and has a strong Gamma ray frequency, Cobalt-60 is used as a Gamma ray Source in Engineering.The main uses for Cobalt-60 include: i. As a tracer for cobalt in chemical reactions ii. Radiation source for industrial radiography iii. Radioactive source for leveling devices and thickness gauges iv. Sterilization of medical equipment General Name, symbol Cobalt-60,60Co Neutrons 33 Protons 27 Nuclide data Natural abundance 0 (artificial element) Half-life 1925.1 d ± 0.1 d Isotope mass 59.9338222 u Spin 5+ Decay mode Decay energy Beta 2.824 [1] MeV v. As a radioactive source for food irradiation and blood irradiation • Cobalt-60 is used for gauging the thickness of a variety of substances. Being a gamma Emitter Cobalt-60 can be used to gauge the thickness of pipes and other underground objects several metres deep without having to dig up the pipes first. This is done using gamma detectors above the area the Cobalt-60 has been placed. • As well as gauging the thickness of pipes and other objects, it can be used to detect cracks and fault lines in pipelines and water tanks etc. This is a major benefit to engineers as they don’t need to dig up metres of dirt to survey a piece of pipe or continue to dig to search for cracks and other forms of damage. • Due to it’s the quite short half-life, there is no natural Cobalt-60 in existence. Synthetic Cobalt-60 is created by bombarding a Cobalt-59 target with a slow neutron source; usually californium-252 moderated through water to slow the neutrons down, or in a nuclear reactor where the control rods usually made of steel is instead made of Cobalt-59. 5927Co +10 n 6027Co • After entering a living human being, most of the Cobalt-60 gets excreted in faeces. A small amount is absorbed by the liver, the kidneys, and the bones, where the prolonged exposure to gamma radiation can cause cancer. When using Cobalt-60 care is to be taken so that the users aren’t exposed without the necessary protective measures in place. • Cobalt-60 also has other uses in industry e.g. 6027Co might be an efficient heater for a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. However, in contrast to the commonly used Plutonium-238, its power is nearly exhausted after 10 years. It is also more difficult to absorb the γ-ray power of Cobalt-60 than the power of α-particles emitted by Plutonium-238. A named isotope in Medicine- Technetium-99m. • Used a Diagnostic Tool, Technetium-99m is used in hospitals throughout the world. • Doctors use Technetium-99m for a variety of tests including Blood Pool Labelling, Immunoscitography, Functional Brain Imaging, Myocardial Perfusion Imaging, Bone Scan, and Pyrophosphate for Heart Damage. • The properties that allow Technetium-99m to be used for all these diagnostic applications include : i. Gamma Emitter, as Technetium-99m is a gamma emitter, it is able to be traced as it is dispersed throughout the body. E.g. in Functional Brain Imaging, Technetium-99m is distributed to regions of high blood flow and used as a tracer, in an attempt to diagnose such causal pathologies of diseases such as Dementia. ii. Technetium-99m is a non-invasive radioisotope that has a short half life of 6 hours minimising the damage to the patient. When Technetium-99m releases gamma rays which allow for data to be collected quickly and reduces total patient exposure. When it decays it release low energy electrons, no gamma rays and forms Ruthenium-99 with a half life oh 211,000 years, this ensures that little extra radiation burden is put on the body. iii. As Technetium-99m has many oxidation states, it can be injected into various regions of the body making it a very effective diagnostic tool. • Technetium-99m used in hospitals for medical testing is produced from Technetium-99m generators. Most commercial 99Mo/99mTc generators use column chromatography, in which Molybdenum-99 in the form of molybdate, MoO42- is adsorbed onto acid alumina (Al203). When the Molybdenum-99 decays it forms pertechnetate TcO4-, which because of its single charge is less tightly bound to the alumina. Pulling normal saline solution through the column of immobilized Molybdenum-99 elutes the soluble Technetium-99m, resulting in a saline solution containing the Technetium-99m as the dissolved sodium salt of the pertechnetate. • The decaying process: 99Mo  99mTc + e− + νe 99Mo  99mTc + β− + νe. • Technetium-99m will then undergo an isomeric transition to yield Technetium-99 and a mono energetic gamma emission: 99mTc 99Tc + γ A named isotope used in Agriculture- Phosphorus-32 • Phosphorus-32 is used in agriculture as a tracer for the up taking of nutrients through the root networks of plants. • Phosphorus-32 is used in agriculture for tracking a plant's uptake of fertilizer from the roots to the leaves. The phosphorus-32 is added to soil water. As it has a half-life of 14.3 days and emits β-particles, its passage through the plant can be traced. β-particles have enough penetration power to surface from root systems and from inside plant tissues. β-particles are detected using Geiger-Muller tubes. The information gathered by mapping the fertiliser’s uptake helps scientists understand how plants utilise phosphorus to grow and reproduce. • A solution of phosphate, containing radioactive phosphorus-32, is injected into the root system of a plant. Since Phosphorus-32 behaves identically to that of phosphorus-31, the more common and non-radioactive form of the element, it is used by the plant in the same way. A Geiger counter is then used to detect the movement of the radioactive Phosphorus-32 throughout the plant. This information helps scientists understand the detailed mechanism of how plants utilized Phosphorus to grow and reproduce. • Phosphorus-32 can be artificially made by subjecting it neutron capture, forcing it to absorb a neutron. 3115P + 10n  3215 P • Phosphorus-32 emits high energy beta particles with a maximum energy of 1.7 MeV that can travel 20 feet. While emitting these particles, Phosphorus-32 atoms decay to stable, nonradioactive Sulfur atoms. • 3215P  3216S + -01e • Even though the beta particles have a high amount of energy, they cannot pass through the layer of dead cells on the skin's surface. This means that there is a minimal exposure risk to the radiation unless Phosphorus-32 is directly applied to the skin or ingested. Most of the risk is eliminated by wearing a lab coat and gloves when working with the isotope. Scientists also work behind a clear plastic shield several centimetres thick to block particles. Liquid and solid waste that contains Phosphorus-32 is kept separate from normal trash and monitored for 10 half lives until the radioactivity is gone Bibliography • Dot Point HSC Physics- Brian Shadwick- Science Press 2007 • Excel HSC Physics – Neville Warren – Pascal Press 2006 • Macquarie HSC Physics – Mark Butler – Macmillan Education 2003 • Excel HSC Physics – Neville Warren – Pascal Press 2008 • www.wikipedia.com/TheManhattanProject - viewed 31/8/2010 • Www.wikipedia.com/Phosphorus-32-viewed 1/9/2010 • www.wikipedia/technetium-99m- viewed 1/9/2010 • Www.hsconline.com.au/physics/quantatoquarks-viewed 28/8/2010 • www.wikipedia.com/Cobalt-60 - viewed 1/9/2010 • www.everything2.com/Phosphorus-32 - viewed 2/9/2010 • www.google.com • Macmillan Physics 2 – Mark Butler, David Hopkins, John Willis – Macmillan Education 2001 • Success One HSC Physics – Science Teachers Association NSW – Aaron Butler Publishing 2009 •