Temperature does have an effect on the speed of particle movement, but this effect is minimal compared to the influence of nuclear forces and therefore, (except under extreme conditions) the half-life of nuclei at different temperatures does not change ...

First, I need to clarify the difference between calories and units of energy, which are joules. Calories were previously used to determine the value of heat and it has been shown (for example in the First Law of Thermodynamics) that heat is one of the forms of energy. The term calorie is still used (especially in food and metabolism), but it is merely a converted value of energy. One calorie is 4 ...

I think that this question cannot be answered simply and briefly and I will rather try to explain why it cannot be answered. Perhaps it will then be clearer why the answer is fundamentally impossible. When producing electricity, we have to consider many completely different criteria, and only then can we address the specific fuel ...

Of the four known types of forces, only two interact between an electron and a proton — gravitational and electrostatic. Both have a similar method of calculation, with gravitational force depending on the mass of the interacting bodies and electrostatic force depending on their charge ...

The size of an atom is in the tenths of nanometres (0.0000000001 m), and the nucleus is even 100,000 times smaller. From this ratio and the fact that the mass of protons is approximately 2,000 times greater than the mass of electrons, among other things, it follows that 99.999% of an atom is actually empty space ...

In my opinion, the speed of an electron's movement in the electron cloud cannot be determined by direct measurement (electrons are too small for that), but we can use an analogy from astronomy — for example, the Moon orbits the Earth at a speed such that the magnitude of the centrifugal force is equal to the gravitational force ...

Just like with everything in our surroundings, it is necessary to determine under what conditions we want to measure the temperature in. For example, water can be at 4 °C in the refrigerator, 95 °C in an electric kettle, and around 300 °C in a power plant (typically nuclear) ...

So far, outer space in the solar system is a peaceful place where no one is shooting at anyone, but we can feel free to entertain hypotheticals about what if we needed to. Maybe that astronaut doesn’t want to shoot another astronaut, but a creepy alien monster ...

Freezing is a process in which a liquid state changes to a solid state. Solid crystals begin to grow in the liquid and more and more molecules of the freezing liquid are added to them. Eventually, one solid block is formed. In water, we call it ice. In order to freeze, the molecules need to get rid of the energy that prevents them from getting a firm grip in the crystal bonds ...

When we heat water, it starts to evaporate. At first, it evaporates only from the surface, and when it reaches the boiling point, it evaporates from its entire volume. The water changes from a liquid to the gaseous state called steam. At some point, an equilibrium is established. As many molecules evaporate from the water as condense back into it. The steam thus obtained is called saturated steam ...

Human beings have always longed to be invisible. Fables and myths are full of potions, incantations and cloaks of invisibility. H. G. Wells attempted to grasp the idea of invisibility a little more scientifically in his novel The Invisible Man. In it, the hero invents a substance that makes all the cells of his body transparent ...

The ability of dinosaurs to construct radiation detectors, take measurements, and record the results has not yet been proven, and it is quite likely that they did not actually do any such thing. Yet we know the half-lives of elements that are longer than the time that dinosaurs ruled the Earth. In order to explain how this is possible, it is first necessary to clarify what the half-life is ...

Photons are particles with zero rest mass moving in a vacuum at the speed of light. As bosons, they are not constrained by the Pauli Exclusion Principle and can pass through each other or occupy the same quantum state ...

The nucleus of each atom is made up of protons with the addition of more or less neutrons. It is thus theoretically possible for an element to exist with any number of protons in its nucleus. Perhaps a thousand or a million. But protons, as charged particles, repel each other, and the more there are in the nucleus, the harder it is to keep the nucleus together ...

The fission chain reaction in a nuclear reactor takes place when a neutron flies to a uranium-235 atom and collides with it, splitting the nucleus into two or three fragments. Several neutrons fly out of the whole process, slow down appropriately, collide with other uranium atoms, and so on. Each fission of uranium generates neutrons, which cause other uranium nuclei to fission ...

You may not like it, but people crowding outside the exit of a concert hall are subject to the Venturi effect. The same physical principle applies to water flowing through a pipe or wind blowing through a canyon. The fluid flowing through a pipe must obey the laws of conservation of energy. The total energy of the fluid, i.e ...

The short answer is yes, they can, but it is extremely unlikely. Photons are quanta of electromagnetic waves. When you turn on a light bulb, it starts producing billions and billions of these particles that whizz through your living room at the speed of light. They’re pure energy. They have no rest mass. Photons are a type of quantum particle called bosons ...

Hopefully, it will never be necessary. To answer your question, let’s first look at what radioactivity is, and how it is measured. Radioactivity is the process by which unstable atoms produce ionising radiation. This radiation can also reach us from space, where it is produced by stars and dramatic processes in the cores of galaxies. Ionising radiation is divided into several types ...

By quickly peeling off the adhesive tape, you not only caused a flash of visible light, but even a brief pulse of X-rays. Don’t worry, you are not in any danger and you can keep using the tape. This phenomenon is called triboluminescence. In some substances, the mechanical energy to which they are subjected, say during crushing or scrubbing, is converted into its internal energy ...

In a container filled with hydrogen under normal conditions, i.e. at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, hydrogen molecules (H-H, H₂) collide quite normally. However, nothing at all is formed — only their temperature and momentum change as they collide. In order for hydrogen to become a different isotope, a change must occur in its atomic nucleus ...