Re: Nuclear topics in physics?

[Bernard Cleyet <anngeorg@PACBELL.NET>]

> What happens to the released energy? What
> prevents heavy nuclei from fissioning very rapidly?

That seems to be going overboard.  Answering those two
questions requires knowing a lot of detail about nuclear
processes.  I don't know how to make an idealized/simplified
version of that question without throwing the baby out
with the bathwater.

JD must be requiring more rigor than I think necessary.  Eisberg and
Lerner discuss this, I think well, in one page.  This is after
discussing chemical reactions, etc.  The sub ch. "Energy and Rest Mass
in Chemical and Nuclear Reactions" is ~ ten pp.

bc


"John S. Denker" wrote:

> Ludwik Kowalski wrote:
> > I think that an introductoty physic teachers should make an
> > effort to include nuclear technology topics.
>
> Yes, that would be nice.
>
> > One difficulty is
> > that a physics course is already overloaded and that adding
> > more chapters is counterproductive. The old dilemma of
> > depth versus breadth cannot be ignored
>
> True.
>
> > and presenting
> > nuclear topics in dedicated chapters is not acceptable.
>
> The key issue is not whether it is a dedicated chapter or not.
> The key issue is whether it can be done without adding new

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