Booklets, Brochures and Pamphlets

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Browsing Booklets, Brochures and Pamphlets by Subject "Atoms"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Power for today.
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission, ) Australian Atomic Energy Commission
    In 1965-66, electricity generated by nuclear means became cheaper in several parts of the world than electricity generated from coal. By 1975, there will be 293 nuclear power reactors, with a total capacity of 138,000 megawatts, in operation in 27 countries. This will be the climax of a long period of research and development since Enrico Fermi, in 1942, built a nuclear pile in which the first controlled nuclear chain reaction took place.
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    Radioisotopes: their role in society today
    (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, ) Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
    Radioisotopes are playing an increasingly important part in Australian life. They are widely used in medicine, industry and scientific research, and new applications for their use are constantly being developed. In many cases, radioisotopes have no substitute and in most of their applications they are more effective and cheaper than alternative techniques or processes. Radioisotopes have been used routinely in medicine for over 30 years. On average, every Australian can expect at some stage in his or her life to undergo a nuclear medicine procedure that uses a radioisotope for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes. Some radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine have very short half-lives, which means they decay quickly; others with longer half-lives take more time to decay, which makes them suitable for therapeutic purposes. Industry uses radioisotopes in a variety of ways to improve productivity and gain information that cannot be obtained in any other way. Radioisotopes are commonly used in industrial radiography, which uses a gamma source to conduct stress testing or check the integrity of welds – a common example is to test aeroplane jet engine turbines for structural integrity. Radioisotopes are also used by industry for gauging (to measure levels of liquid inside containers, for example) or to measure the thickness of materials. Radioisotopes are also widely used in scientific research, and are employed in a range of applications, from tracing the flow of contaminants in biological systems, to determining metabolic processes in small Australian animals.
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    Story of atomic energy
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission, ) Australian Atomic Energy Commission
    What is atomic energy? How do we know what is inside an atom? What is an isotope? These questions are frequently asked as we enter the Atomic Age, and the text of a lecture given by Professor Sir Mark Oliphant, while Director of the Research School of Physical Sciences at the Australian National University, gives the answers in this easy to read and understand story of atomic energy.
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    What do we look at when we use neutron scattering?
    (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, 2007-04-12) Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
    Many useful things are made of crystals. Neutron instruments are made to look closely at crystals.
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    What is nuclear power?
    (Australian Atomic Energy Commission, ) Australian Atomic Energy Commission
    There are two main types of power stations generating electricity in Australia today. One uses water coming down from a high level to turn the turbine-generators. The other burns coal or oil to raise steam which turns the turbines. In a nuclear power station, steam spins the turbines but the steam is raised by heat from a nuclear reactor - an atomic furnace. This heat is produced by splitting atoms; the process is called fission. Millions upon millions of fissions per second are required to generate enough heat. By controlling the number of fissions, the required heat level can be maintained.