| Mountain Hikes and Nuclear Astrophysics | | Date Created: Sep 05, 2004, 03:06 PM |
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I love mountain hikes. I can never stop feeling awe and wonder ascending by foot to a summit when the trees and rocks are suddenly brushed aside to reveal a clear view that seems to go on and on.
On friday, 9/3, I took a break from academic preparations and hiked with my family (wife, Allison, and two daughters, 4 and 11 years old) to the top of Mt. Hadley in the southern region of the grand Adirondack State Park in upstate New York. The day was clear, the weather fantastic, and the view from the summit spectacular. I was especially amazed at the long bare granite "sidewalks" that would sometimes extend 200 yards uninteruppted up the mountain side. The mountain was the site of devasting fires in the early 20th century that even burned the top soil. As a result, the weather and trail traffic has keep the trail bare. The white-grey rock combined with the young pioneer birch trees to give the whole trail the appearance of a beautiful cleanliness. |
What does a trip up a mountain have to do with nuclear science? Well, my daughters would discover small rocks with pea-sized chucks of "crystals". "Crystals! I found another crystal," my four-year-old would shout. This was a mountain that provided ample opportunity to explore the elements.
Nuclear astrophysics involves the study of the creation of the elements. In stars. It's a fascinating field and one with a long track record of success and one at the verge of more breakthroughs, especially with regards to understanding the formation of the early universe and the detailed dynamics within exploding stars.
We won't have time to discuss nucleosynthesis within our short introductory course, but we will discuss the deuteron. How lucky is the universe that the deuterium is a stable isotope! The nuclear force is sufficient to bind one neutron to one proton. With the production of deuterium, other nuclear reactions become possible. Deuterons combine with neutrons and other deuterons to form tritium; and with protons to form 3-Helium. Once these nuclei form, 4-Helium can be formed and so-on. By studying the ratios of various elements throughout the universe, nuclear astrophysicists check the consistency of modern the theories of particle physics and cosmology. |
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