Category Physics

What is the concept of the first british atomic bomb?

Like it or not, science and technology sees unprecedented growth during dire times. This is probably because funding flows into different branches of science like never before, allowing for progress inconceivable during ordinary times. Just like how the COVID-19 pandemic saw a global collective search for vaccines, there have been other times in the past – mostly during wars – when a number of scientific fields received a tremendous boost.

World War II was one such period when scientific progress was at its pinnacle. The ability to split an atom through nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s. With its ability to release immense power realised, it wasn’t long before the race to build a bomb with it was on. The Manhattan Project was born early in the 1940s and we all know what happened in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To retain influence                                           

While the Manhattan Project was led by the U.S., it was done in collaboration with the U.K. along with support from Canada. Following the war, however, the U.S. refused to share atomic information with the U.K. With the objective of avoiding complete dependence on the U.S., and to remain a great power and retain its influence, Britain sought to become a nuclear power.

The prospect was discussed in a secret cabinet committee in October 1946. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton and President of the Board of Trade Stafford Cripps were opposed to the idea of a British bomb citing the huge costs involved, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin had his way and work went ahead. By the time the bomb was ready, however, Winston Churchill’s government came to power.

Penney at the helm

Led by British mathematician William Penney, who had worked on the world’s first atomic bomb in the U.S., the project that went on to become Operation Hurricane began with a secret laboratory tasked with developing the trigger device. With the Soviets managing to successfully explode their first atomic bomb in 1949, Penney’s team was under further pressure. Soon enough, the Brits were ready with their bomb.

Early in 1951, the Australian government agreed that the blast could take place at the uninhabited Monte Bello islands, an archipelago of over 100 islands lying off the coast of north-western Australia. The region was declared a prohibited zone and ships and aircraft were later warned to stay clear of an area of 23,500 nautical square miles off the coast.

Plym carries the bomb

 The troops were mobilised, the first set of vessels left for their destination in January 1952 and six months later HMS Plym, carrying the bomb, and the fleet flagship HMS Campania, made their way. The radioactive core, which used British and Canadian plutonium, was flown out later, and installed in the bomb on Plym very close to the scheduled detonation.

On the morning of October 3, 1952, Britain’s first atomic bomb exploded, sending thousands of tonnes of rock, mud, and sea-water blasting into the air. The Plym was instantly vaporised, with scant bits of red-hot metal from the vessel falling on one of the islands even starting a fire.

An eye-witness account of a Reuters correspondent stationed less than 100 miles away mentions a grand flash followed by the appearance of a grey cloud-a zigzag Z-shaped cloud as opposed to the mushroom cloud that we instantly associate with such detonations.

The success of Operation Hurricane resulted in Penney being knighted. Churchill, who was serving as the Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time, announced to the House of Commons that there had been no casualties and that everything had gone according to plan. While he did congratulate the Labour Party for their role in the whole project, he also did take a dig at them saying that ‘as an old parliamentarian I was rather astonished that something well over £100 million could be disbursed without Parliament being made aware of it.’

Like it or not, science and technology sees unprecedented growth during dire times. This is probably because funding flows into different branches of science like never before, allowing for progress inconceivable during ordinary times. Just like how the COVID-19 pandemic saw a global collective search for vaccines, there have been other times in the past – mostly during wars – when a number of scientific fields received a tremendous boost.

World War II was one such period when scientific progress was at its pinnacle. The ability to split an atom through nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s. With its ability to release immense power realised, it wasn’t long before the race to build a bomb with it was on. The Manhattan Project was born early in the 1940s and we all know what happened in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To retain influence                                           

While the Manhattan Project was led by the U.S., it was done in collaboration with the U.K. along with support from Canada. Following the war, however, the U.S. refused to share atomic information with the U.K. With the objective of avoiding complete dependence on the U.S., and to remain a great power and retain its influence, Britain sought to become a nuclear power.

The prospect was discussed in a secret cabinet committee in October 1946. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton and President of the Board of Trade Stafford Cripps were opposed to the idea of a British bomb citing the huge costs involved, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin had his way and work went ahead. By the time the bomb was ready, however, Winston Churchill’s government came to power.

Penney at the helm

Led by British mathematician William Penney, who had worked on the world’s first atomic bomb in the U.S., the project that went on to become Operation Hurricane began with a secret laboratory tasked with developing the trigger device. With the Soviets managing to successfully explode their first atomic bomb in 1949, Penney’s team was under further pressure. Soon enough, the Brits were ready with their bomb.

Early in 1951, the Australian government agreed that the blast could take place at the uninhabited Monte Bello islands, an archipelago of over 100 islands lying off the coast of north-western Australia. The region was declared a prohibited zone and ships and aircraft were later warned to stay clear of an area of 23,500 nautical square miles off the coast.

Plym carries the bomb

 The troops were mobilised, the first set of vessels left for their destination in January 1952 and six months later HMS Plym, carrying the bomb, and the fleet flagship HMS Campania, made their way. The radioactive core, which used British and Canadian plutonium, was flown out later, and installed in the bomb on Plym very close to the scheduled detonation.

On the morning of October 3, 1952, Britain’s first atomic bomb exploded, sending thousands of tonnes of rock, mud, and sea-water blasting into the air. The Plym was instantly vaporised, with scant bits of red-hot metal from the vessel falling on one of the islands even starting a fire.

An eye-witness account of a Reuters correspondent stationed less than 100 miles away mentions a grand flash followed by the appearance of a grey cloud-a zigzag Z-shaped cloud as opposed to the mushroom cloud that we instantly associate with such detonations.

The success of Operation Hurricane resulted in Penney being knighted. Churchill, who was serving as the Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time, announced to the House of Commons that there had been no casualties and that everything had gone according to plan. While he did congratulate the Labour Party for their role in the whole project, he also did take a dig at them saying that ‘as an old parliamentarian I was rather astonished that something well over £100 million could be disbursed without Parliament being made aware of it.’

Picture Credit Google

what’s phantom electricity?

 Do you always switch off appliances when not in use? Now, do you remove these from their sockets? Did you know that even when you have switched off the appliance, some of the appliances can consume power in standby mode? The phantom electricity or vampire electricity is just that. It is the electricity that some gadgets consume when they are in standby power mode or switched off.

Note that those devices that do not have clocks and dashboards do not consume vampire energy. An example of a device that consumes vampire electricity includes water coolers.

Nowadays the water cooler is always running and will require a large amount of energy. Other examples include vending machines, coffee makers, laptop chargers, microwaves, security cameras, televisions, surround sound systems, gaming consoles, washing machines, dishwashers, photocopiers, cordless landline phones, battery chargers, mobile phones, and so on. These devices consume energy 24/7 when they are plugged into outlets. While we may have to keep some devices left on or on standby such as the fridge, most appliances need not be.           

According to experts, vampire energy consumption can be around 40% of a building’s energy use. Some studies have found that more than 100 billion kilowatt-hours get wasted due to phantom electricity every year. Further, it can also produce some 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Residential waste and industrial vampire energy consumption are significant contributors to these emissions. The problem is with always-on devices. So the combined effect of the phantom electricity is much higher. Further, the percentage of phantom power use has burgeoned in recent years, more so because we have more appliances in our homes and industrial spaces. So all the devices combined, the loss of power through phantom load can be a significant amount. This means higher utility bills and more carbon pollution. Identify the devices that are invisibly draining the electricity in your home and cut down on phantom power usage.

Now what can you do if you aren’t sure if the appliance consumes standby power? Well, you can prevent this wastage of energy by just unplugging the device!

Picture Credit : Google

What is the concept of the first british atomic bomb?

Like it or not, science and technology sees unprecedented growth during dire times. This is probably because funding flows into different branches of science like never before, allowing for progress inconceivable during ordinary times. Just like how the COVID-19 pandemic saw a global collective search for vaccines, there have been other times in the past – mostly during wars – when a number of scientific fields received a tremendous boost.

World War II was one such period when scientific progress was at its pinnacle. The ability to split an atom through nuclear fission was discovered in the 1930s. With its ability to release immense power realised, it wasn’t long before the race to build a bomb with it was on. The Manhattan Project was born early in the 1940s and we all know what happened in Japan’s Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

To retain influence                                                                

While the Manhattan Project was led by the U.S., it was done in collaboration with the U.K. along with support from Canada. Following the war, however, the U.S. refused to share atomic information with the U.K. With the objective of avoiding complete dependence on the U.S., and to remain a great power and retain its influence, Britain sought to become a nuclear power.

The prospect was discussed in a secret cabinet committee in October 1946. While Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton and President of the Board of Trade Stafford Cripps were opposed to the idea of a British bomb citing the huge costs involved, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Ernest Bevin had his way and work went ahead. By the time the bomb was ready, however, Winston Churchill’s government came to power.

Penney at the helm

Led by British mathematician William Penney, who had worked on the world’s first atomic bomb in the U.S., the project that went on to become Operation Hurricane began with a secret laboratory tasked with developing the trigger device. With the Soviets managing to successfully explode their first atomic bomb in 1949, Penney’s team was under further pressure. Soon enough, the Brits were ready with their bomb.

Early in 1951, the Australian government agreed that the blast could take place at the uninhabited Monte Bello islands, an archipelago of over 100 islands lying off the coast of north-western Australia. The region was declared a prohibited zone and ships and aircraft were later warned to stay clear of an area of 23,500 nautical square miles off the coast.

Plym carries the bomb

 The troops were mobilised, the first set of vessels left for their destination in January 1952 and six months later HMS Plym, carrying the bomb, and the fleet flagship HMS Campania, made their way. The radioactive core, which used British and Canadian plutonium, was flown out later, and installed in the bomb on Plym very close to the scheduled detonation.

On the morning of October 3, 1952, Britain’s first atomic bomb exploded, sending thousands of tonnes of rock, mud, and sea-water blasting into the air. The Plym was instantly vaporised, with scant bits of red-hot metal from the vessel falling on one of the islands even starting a fire.

An eye-witness account of a Reuters correspondent stationed less than 100 miles away mentions a grand flash followed by the appearance of a grey cloud-a zigzag Z-shaped cloud as opposed to the mushroom cloud that we instantly associate with such detonations.

The success of Operation Hurricane resulted in Penney being knighted. Churchill, who was serving as the Prime Minister of the U.K. for a second time, announced to the House of Commons that there had been no casualties and that everything had gone according to plan. While he did congratulate the Labour Party for their role in the whole project, he also did take a dig at them saying that ‘as an old parliamentarian I was rather astonished that something well over £100 million could be disbursed without Parliament being made aware of it.’

Picture Credit : Google

What are bubbletrons?

While it is nearly impossible to say with certainty, the moments following the Big Bang will probably be unmatched in the universe. We do know that it featured the most energetic and transformative events that have ever Occurred.

A new study published on the preprint database arxiv on June 27 suggests that massive bubbles emerged and collided with each other, may have powering up colossal energies in the early universe. The researchers are calling these ultra-energetic, early universe structures as “bubbletrons.”

Four fundamental forces of nature

 There are four fundamental forces of nature – electromagnetism, strong nuclear, weak nuclear and gravity. These, however, aren’t always different and they tend to merge at high energies. Powerful particle colliders have already detected electromagnetism and the weak nuclear force merging into a “electroweak” force.

Even though there is no proof, physicists suspect that all forces could merge into a single, unified force at extremely high energies. The only time the universe had such energies, however, was in the moments after the Big Bang. The splitting of the forces from those instances might have either been serene and smooth, or incredibly violent.

Extraordinary amounts of energy

This research suggests that if the transitions had indeed been violent, then the universe could have been filled with gigantic bubbles, only briefly. Before eventually colliding, expanding and converting the universe into the new reality, these bubbles would have carried extraordinary amounts of energy. According to the researchers, the bubbletrons could have in fact reached the energies required to trigger the formation of hypothetical dark matter. The researchers also discovered that the expansion and collision of these bubbletrons would have created gravitational waves capable of persisting till this day.

A recent research has already expressed that our universe is flooded with a background hum of gravitational waves. Even though most of these are likely due to supermassive black holes colliding, some might be a result of other processes in the early universe, including the creation and distortion of bubbletrons. Future analysis and upcoming gravitational wave detectors might be able to provide evidence for the existence of bubbletrons.

Picture Credit : Google 

Unsung pioneers in the field of science

These are tales not just of perseverance and love for science, but also of discrimination and unfair treatment. Despite making groundbreaking discoveries, their names remain largely unknown, simply because they are women. Let's celebrate these women scientists and their contribution to the world….

ESTHER MIRIAM ZIMMER LEDERBERG (1922-2006)

Esther Miriam Zimmer Lederberg was an American microbiologist, who discovered bacterial virus Lambda phage and the bacterial fertility factor F (F plasmid). Like many woman scientists of her time, Esther Lederberg was not given credit for her scientific contribution because of her gender. While her husband, her mentor and another research partner won 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering how genetic material is transferred between bacteria, Esther wasn't even mentioned in the citation, even though her work significantly contributed to the discovery.

Esther Miriam Lederberg was born in Bronx, New York, into a humble family. When studying masters in genetics at Stanford University, Esther struggled to make ends meet. As recollected by Esther in her interviews, she had sometimes eaten frogs’ legs leftover from laboratory dissections.

Esther met her future husband Joshua Lederberg at Stanford. They moved to the University of Wisconsin, where they would begin years of collaboration. Throughout the 1950s, they published papers together and apart, as both made discoveries about bacteria and genetics of bacteria.

Esther Lederberg's contributions to the field of microbiology were enormous. In 1950, she discovered the lambda phage, a type of bacterial virus, which replicates inside the DNA of bacteria. She developed an important technique known as replica plating, still used in microbiology labs all over the world. Along with her husband and other team members, she discovered the bacterial fertility factor.

CECILIA PAYNE-GAPOSCHKIN (1900-1979)

Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was a British-born American astronomer who was the first to propose that stars are made of hydrogen and helium.

Cecilia Payne was born in 1900 in Buckinghamshire, England. In 1919, she got a scholarship to study at Newnham College, Cambridge University, where she initially studied botany, physics, and chemistry. Inspired by Arthur Eddington, an English astronomer, she dropped out to study astronomy.

Studying astronomy at Cambridge in the 1920s was a lonely prospect for a woman. Cecilia sat alone, as she was not allowed to occupy the same rows of seats as her male classmates. The ordeal did not end there. Because of her gender, Cecilia was not awarded a degree, despite fulfilling the requirements in 1923. (Cambridge did not grant degrees to women until 1948.)

Finding no future for a woman scientist in England, she headed to the United States, where she received a fellowship to study at Haward Observatory. In her PhD thesis, published as Stellar Atmospheres in 1925, Cecilia showed for the first time how to read the surface temperature of any star from its spectrum. She also proposed that stars are composed mostly of hydrogen and helium. In 1925, she became the first person to earn a PhD in astronomy. But she received the doctorate from Radcliffe College, since Harvard did not grant doctoral degrees to women then. She also became the first female professor in her faculty at Harvard in 1956.

Cecilia contributed widely to the physical understanding of the stars and was honoured with awards later in her lifetime.

CHIEN-SHIUNG WU (1912-1997)

Chien-Shiung Wu is a Chinese-American physicist who is known for the Wu Experiment that she carried out to disprove a quantum mechanics concept called the Law of Parity Conservation. But the Nobel Committee failed to recognise her contribution, when theoretical physicists Tsung-Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang, who had worked on the project, were awarded the Prize in 1957.

Chien-Shiung Wu was born in a small town in Jiangsu province, China, in 1912. She studied physics at a university in Shanghai and went on to complete PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1940.

In 1944, during WWII, she joined the Manhattan Project at Columbia University, focussing on radiation detectors. After the war, Wu began investigating beta decay and made the first confirmation of Enrico Fermi's theory of beta decay. Her book "Beta Decay," published in 1965, is still a standard reference for nuclear physicists.

In 1956, theoretical physicists Tsung Dao Lee and Chen Ning Yang approached Wu to devise an experiment to disprove the Law of Parity Conservation, according to which two physical systems, such as two atoms, are mirror images that behave in identical ways. Using cobalt-60, a radioactive form of the cobalt metal, Wu's experiment successfully disproved the law.

In 1958, her research helped answer important biological questions about blood and sickle cell anaemia. She is fondly remembered as the "First Lady of Physics", the "Chinese Madame Curie" and the "Queen of Nuclear Research”.

LISE MEITNER (1878-1968)

Lise Meitner was an Austrian-Swedish physicist, who was part of a team that discovered nuclear fission. But she was overlooked for the Nobel Prize and instead her research partner Otto Hahn was awarded for the discovery.

Lise Meitner was born on November 7, 1878, in Vienna. Austria had restrictions on women education, but Meitner managed to receive private tutoring in physics. She went on to receive her doctorate at the University of Vienna. Meitner later worked with Otto Hahn for around 30 years, during which time they discovered several isotopes including protactinium-231, studied nuclear isomerism and beta decay. In the 1930s, the duo was joined by Fritz Strassmann, and the team investigated the products of neutron bombardment of uranium.

In 1938, as Germany annexed Austria, Meitner, a Jew, fled to Sweden. She suggested that Hahn and Strassmann perform further tests on a uranium product, which later turned out to be barium. Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch explained the physical characteristics of this reaction and proposed the term 'fission' to refer to the process when an atom separates and creates energy. Meitner was offered a chance to work on the Manhattan Project to develop an atomic bomb. However, she turned down the offer.

JANAKI AMMAL (1897-1984)

Janaki Ammal was an Indian botanist, who has a flower- the pink-white Magnolia Kobus Janaki Ammal named after her.

She undertook an extraordinary journey from a small town in Kerala to the John Innes Horticultural Institute at London. She was born in Thalassery, Kerala, in 1897.

Her family encouraged her to engage in intellectual pursuit from a very young age. She graduated in Botany in Madras in 1921 and went to Michigan as the first Oriental Barbour Fellow where she obtained her DSc in 1931. She did face gender and caste discrimination in India, but found recognition for her work outside the country.

After a stint at the John Innes Horticultural Institute at London, she was invited to work at the Royal Horticulture Society at Wisley, close to the famous Kew Gardens. In 1945, she co-authored The Chromosome Atlas of Cultivated Plants with biologist CD Darlington. Her major contribution came about at the Sugarcane Breeding Station at Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Janaki's work helped in the discovery of hybrid varieties of high-yielding sugarcane. She also produced many hybrid eggplants (brinjal). She was awarded Padma Shri in 1977.

GERTY CORI (1896-1957)

Gerty Cori was an Austrian-American biochemist, known for her discovery of how the human body stores and utilises energy. In 1947, she became the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the third woman to win a Nobel.

Gerty Theresa Cori was born in Prague in 1896. She received the Doctorate in Medicine from the German University of Prague in 1920 and got married to Carl Cori the same year.

Immigrating to the United States in 1922, the husband-wife duo joined the staff of the Institute for the Study of Malignant Disease, Bualo. N.Y. Working together on glucose metabolism in 1929, they discovered the 'Cori Cycle' the pathway of conversion of glycogen (stored form of sugar) to glucose (usable form of sugar). In 1936, they discovered the enzyme Phosphorylase, which breaks down muscle glycogen, and identified glucose 1-phosphate (or Cori ester) as the first intermediate in the reaction.

The Coris were consistently interested in the mechanism of action of hormones and they carried out several studies on the pituitary gland. In 1947, Gerty Cori, Carl Cori and Argentine physiologist Bernardo Houssay received the Nobel Prize in 1947 for their discovery of the course of the catalytic conversion of glycogen.

Although the Coris were equals in the lab, they were not treated as equals. Gerty faced gender discrimination throughout her career. Few institutions hired Gerty despite her accomplishments, and those that did hire, did not give her equal status or pay.

Picture Credit : Google 

Can sound travel through empty space? Let’s find out by an experiment.

What you need:

Empty glass bottle with a cap, small bell, short firm wire, adhesive tape, matches, and paper

What you do:

  • Attach the bell to the piece of wire. Fix the opposite end of the wire to the inside of the bottle cap with tape. Check if the bell rings when you shake the wire.
  • Screw the cap onto the bottle. Shake the bottle to ensure that the bell jingles inside without touching the sides of the bottle.
  • Unscrew the cap. Tear the paper into shreds and drop the pieces into the bottle.
  • Light two matches and drop them into the bottle. As soon as you do this, quickly screw on the cap with the bell. (Take the help of an adult to do this step.)
  • Wait till the matches and the shredded paper burn out and the bottle cools.
  • Shake the bottle. Can you hear the bell?
  • Open the cap to let in some air and screw it on again. Shake the bottle again. Can you hear the bell now?

What do you observe?

You can hear the bell faintly immediately after the matches extinguish. After you open the cap and screw it on again, you can hear the bell ring louder.

Why does this happen?

Sound needs a medium like air or water to travel through. Sound waves vibrate the particles of the medium. When these vibrations reach our eardrums, we hear sound.

In the experiment, the burning paper and matches used up the oxygen in the sealed bottle, creating a partial vacuum. As sound cannot travel in a vacuum, you cannot hear the bell well until you let in some air into the bottle.

Picture Credit : Google