النظائر .. سلسلة مقدمات موجزة

Very Short Introductions #476

by Rob Ellam, نجلاء حسن (translator)

النظير هو شكلٌ مختلفٌ من عنصرٍ كيميائيٍّ يحتوي على عددٍ مختلفٍ من النيوترونات في نواته. وقد وُصفَت النظائر، من جانب مكتشفها فريدريك سُدي، بأنَّهـا «متطابقـة من الخـارج» و«مختلفـة من الداخل»، ومن الممكن أن تكون مستقرَّة أو مشعَّة. في هذه المقدِّمة الموجزة، يوضِّح روب إلام الدور المهم الذي لعبته دراسة النظائر فـي العلم الحديث. ويفسِّر كيف أدَّت عمليَّـات طبيعيَّـة إلى التمييز بين النظائر، ويصف التطبيقات العديدة للكيمياء الجيولوجيَّـة للنظائـر، بدايـةً مـن استكشـاف باطـن الأرض العميـق، وصولاً إلى النُّظُم الغذائيَّـة للحضارات القديمة، ومن المفاعلات النوويَّـة إلى تقنيَّـات التصوير الطبيَّـة.

Genres: Science, Chemistry, Nonfiction, Physics

160 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2016

Reviews

[Daniel Wright · Rating 2 out of 5]

Chapter 1: Identical outsides… different insides
Chapter 2: Isotopic clocks: the persistence of carbon
Chapter 3: You are what you eat… plus a few per mil
Chapter 4: Measuring isotopes: counting the atoms
Chapter 5: Physics heal thyself: isotopes in medicine
Chapter 6: Measuring isotopes: mass spectrometers
Chapter 7: Reconstructing the past and weathering the future
Chapter 8: Scratching the surface with cosmogenic isotopes
Chapter 9: Uranium, thorium, and their daughters
Chapter 10: Probing the Earth with isotopes
Chapter 11: Cosmic stopped clocks

[Timo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Very Short Introduction introduces some concepts in nuclear and isotope physics. It is interesting how broad the phenomena and applications are that nuclear physics can describe, from describing the origin of all heavy elements to cancer therapy via radiation, from cosmogenic dating to decrypting food chains of animals or reconstructing climate change in history.
In some parts this was a good addition to a course on Advanced Physics of Nuclei and Isotopes that I attended. However, I skipped the last chapters as I had enough isotope talk in the last six months.

[Greg Hovanesian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a really good book about a difficult subject. The author broke things down in a very simplistic manner and did a great job describing details. The opening chapters were particularly enjoyable: towards the end of the book the subject matter got fairly technical, but the author did a great job making it interesting and understandable.