Chapter 6 summary and reflection

In chapter 6, Kean starts with talking about Henry Moseley. This young man found a mathematical relationship between the wavelengths of x-rays, the number of protons an element has, and the elements atomic number. Moseley basically built an electron gun that helped sort radioactive elements and disprove claims for new elements. Moseley pioneered nuclear science. Moseley died on the field during World War I and his death launched scientists to hunt down the missing elements Moseley had talked about. The periodic table got bigger as more elements were discovered. The neutron was also discovered and the people began to study more about radioactivity.

 The studying of radioactivity began the Manhattan Project and the hope of builiding of an atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project a combined with the Monte Carlo method and atomic bombs were able to be created. A uranium bomb was detonated at Hiroshima during WWII and a plutonium bomb was also detonated at Nagasaki. After the bombings, the Monte Carlo pushed the development of early computers but it also pushed the development of nuclear weapons. This lead to the creation of bombs that used radiation, specifically gamma radiation. Kean closes the chapter by explaining how Manhattan Project veterans came up with bombs using cobalt that could wipe out the entire human race and goes on to explain the deal between the US and Soviet governments to lose any nuclear war.

This chapter was also disturbing to me like chapter 6 but it was also informational. I knew about the bombings in Japan by the Americans in WWII and I knew the effects it had on the Japanese but this chapter gave me an inside look on the creation of the bombs. I was disgusted when I read how the people of the Manhattan Project worked so hard to build the atomic bomb. I know it was a breakthrough in science but it's something I feel should have never been discovered and that's what I didn't like about this chapter. This chapter gave me a whole new meaning on elements and how something that seemed so harmless to me could actually have the potential to destroy the only living world we know.