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Tracks to Innovation

Nuclear Tracks in Science and Technology

  • Book
  • © 1998

Overview

Authors:
  1. Robert L. Fleischer

    1. Department of Geology, Union College, Schenectady, USA

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  • The author is among the original scientists who discovered the technique for detecting nuclear particles *

  • The only non-technical book on this topic.

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
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  2. Etching Nuclear Tracks

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 1-25

  3. Hole Engineering—From Filters to Counters

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 27-49

  4. Radon—A Hazard and a Help

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 51-75

  5. Tracks of Time

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 77-100

  6. Cosmic Rays

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 101-131

  7. Divergent Track Uses

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 133-161

  8. Links of Science and Technology

    • Robert L. Fleischer
    Pages 163-178

  9. Back Matter

    Pages 179-193
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Keywords

About this book

A serendipitous discovery in nuclear physics has led to a useful tool in materials science. In the late 1950s, scientists at General Electric (among them the author) discovered that when mica is exposed to energetic charged particles (such as are emitted in radioactive decay or occur in cosmic rays), the particles leave latent tracks in the material. When such a material is chemically etched, the tracks are revealed as narrow, deep pits, whose size and shape is determined both by the particle that made the track and by the technique used in etching. It soon turned out that glass, plastics, or certain other materials can be similarly treated. This discovery paved the way not only for a new and useful method of measuring radioactivity, it has also found widespread applications in other fields, ranging from geology and materials science to archaeology and art history. Thus, for example, naturally produced tracks can be used to estimate the age of a mineral deposit or an archaeological material; and deliberately produced tracks can be used to make extremely fine filters. Fleischer presents the history of these developments and discusses the applications of the technique in a way that will be interesting to anyone with a minimal knowledge of physics.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Geology, Union College, Schenectady, USA

    Robert L. Fleischer

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Tracks to Innovation

  • Book Subtitle: Nuclear Tracks in Science and Technology

  • Authors: Robert L. Fleischer

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4612-4452-3

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 1998

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-387-98342-4Published: 12 January 1998

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4612-8775-9Published: 25 December 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4612-4452-3Published: 06 December 2012

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIV, 193

  • Topics: Condensed Matter Physics, Particle and Nuclear Physics

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