Artificial atomic nuclei
Science: The rise of nanotechnology is garnering much attention for its ability to construct objects with individual atoms and molecules, at a scale roughly a billion times smaller than the objects we encounter in our everyday lives. In parallel to nanotechnology's often astonishing achievements, scientists have started to build a capacity to do useful work on an even more minute scale. During the past decade, chemists and physicists have begun a fabrication process at the scale of the atomic nuclei. It is an emergent means of producing, in sufficient quantities, "designer" atomic nuclei, which are new, rare isotopes with unusual numbers of neutrons or protons, or unusual decay modes (1). There are several reasons why a latent demand exists within the scientific community for new isotopes. One is that the properties of particular isotopes often hold the key to understanding some aspect of nuclear science. Another is that the rate of certain nuclear reactions involving rare isotopes can be important for modeling astronomical objects. Finally, the pursuit of ever more exotic isotopes sometimes advances basic understanding of the nuclear landscape, along with unexpected areas of application.
Comments
The development of exotic nuclei or rare isotopes with exotic decay modes might not only have applications in terms of nuclear weapons based on exotic decay or fission modes, but perhaps much more importantly, such developments might be useful in providing sources of energy dense materials such as for nuclear powered electro-dynamically driven spacecraft for manned space exploration.
Examples of such craft are electron rockets, ion rockets, photon rockets, and electrodynamic-plasma-hydrodynamic-drive systems that use the ambient rarified plasma in planetary or interstellar space as a reaction mass.
Some such craft in theory could reach mildly relativistic velocities, even craft which carry their entire fuel supply on board from the beginning and thus might find utility in enabling manned missions to our nearest stellar neighbors.
Depending on the number of decay modes, sequences, and mass specific energy release in each decay event or step in a decay process of a nucleonic species involving multiple or perhaps several decay stages, more energy might be converted to energy during the entire decay series than the known fusion or at least known fission sequences. Perhaps elements and respective isotopes in the so-called Island of Stable Super-heavy elements might fulfill such roles.
Another potential aspect of the further understanding of nuclear processes involving rare or exotic isotopic forms of rare or exotic yet to be produced elements involves the study of the processes of quantum-chromo-dynamics or QCD which is the analogue to quantum-electro-dynamics or QED. Since such study can refine our understanding of the interaction of the quarks and gluons that make up the nucleons of atomic nuclei, observed anomalies or other observed phenomenon might have value in the elucidating and perhaps in the detailed study of the nature of any additional existent nuclear forces. Such additional nuclear forces might be stronger than the strong nuclear force, and as a result, might pave the way for more mass specific energy dense materials relative to those that undergo known nuclear fusion or nuclear fission processes. Thus, it is possible that the study of such exotic, yet to be created, nuclei might shed light on any existent composivity of quarks and any new related force mediating virtual bosons.
Posted by: James M. Essig | May 16, 2008 12:06 AM