Fundamentals of nuclear physics for engineering students. Basic properties of the nucleus and nuclear radiations. Elementary quantum mechanical calculations of bound-state energies and barrier transmission probability. Binding energy and nuclear stability. Interactions of charged particles, neutrons, and gamma rays with matter. Radioactive decays. Energetics and general cross-section behavior in nuclear reactions.

Fundamentals of nuclear physics for engineering students. Basic properties of the nucleus and nuclear radiations. Elementary quantum mechanical calculations of bound-state energies and barrier transmission probability. Binding energy and nuclear stability. Interactions of charged particles, neutrons, and gamma rays with matter. Radioactive decays. Energetics and general cross-section behavior in nuclear reactions.

Watch beta decay occur for a collection of nuclei or for an individual nucleus.

Examines the development of computing techniques and technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, particularly critical evaluation of how the very idea of "computer" changes and evolves over time. Emphasis is on technical innovation, industrial development, social context, and the role of government. Topics include Babbage, Hollerith, differential analyzers, control systems, ENIAC, radar, operations research, computers as scientific instruments, the rise of "computer science," artificial intelligence, personal computers, and networks. Includes class visits by members of the MIT community who have made important historical contributions. This course focuses on one particular aspect of the history of computing: the use of the computer as a scientific instrument. The electronic digital computer was invented to do science, and its applications range from physics to mathematics to biology to the humanities. What has been the impact of computing on the practice of science? Is the computer different from other scientific instruments? Is computer simulation a valid form of scientific experiment? Can computer models be viewed as surrogate theories? How does the computer change the way scientists approach the notions of proof, expertise, and discovery? No comprehensive history of scientific computing has yet been written. This seminar examines scientific articles, participants' memoirs, and works by historians, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to provide multiple perspectives on the use of computers in diverse fields of physical, biological, and social sciences and the humanities. We explore how the computer transformed scientific practice, and how the culture of computing was influenced, in turn, by scientific applications.

The phenomenology and experimental foundations of particle and nuclear physics; the fundamental forces and particles, composites. Interactions of particles with matter, and detectors. SU(2), SU(3), models of mesons and baryons. QED, weak interactions, parity violation, lepton-nucleon scattering, and structure functions. QCD, gluon field and color. W and Z fields, electro-weak unification, the CKM matrix. Nucleon-nucleon interactions, properties of nuclei, single and collective particle models. Electron and hadron interactions with nuclei. Relativistic heavy ion collisions, and transition to quark-gluon plasma.

The EJS Radioactive Decay Distribution Model simulates the decay of a radioactive sample using discrete random events. It displays the distribution of the number of events (radioactive decays) in a fixed time interval. If each event is assumed to occur independently and spontaneously with a constant probability, the resulting distribution if the Poisson distribution. You can change the initial number of nuclei, the decay constant and the time interval for the event distribution.

The EJS Radioactive Decay Events Model simulates the decay of a radioactive sample using discrete random events. It displays the number of events (radioactive decays) as a function of time in a given time interval. You can change the initial number of nuclei, the decay constant and the time interval for the event distribution.

The EJS Radioactive Decay Model simulates the decay of a radioactive sample using discrete random events. It displays the number of radioactive nuclei as a function of time. You can change the initial number of nuclei and the decay constant as well as changing the plot to a semi-log plot.