Meitner Research Project

Atoms Story Essay

It was once said by Lise Meitner that “Science makes people reach selflessly for truth and objectivity; it teaches people to accept reality, with wonder and admiration, not to mention the deep awe and joy that the natural order of things brings to the true scientist”. Meitner, a famous scientist, was a woman of many morals, refusing to work on the atomic bomb. Her good will is what made me chose her as my scientist in this piece of writing. The three most important sources in this essay are the Atomic Archive website (atomicarchive.com), the Jewish Women’s Archive, and the book Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. This essay will be broken down into two parts. The first part will discuss the scientist; Lise Meitner. The second part will discuss the big picture and science throughout the years. This essay will attempt to prove that Lise Meitner contributed to the history and current understanding of the atom.

A Look at the Scientist

Lise Meitner was born and raised in Vienna, Austria (atomicarchive.com).  Although there is some debate about her actual birth date, most sources say that Meitner was born on November 7^th 1878 (atomicharchive.com). She was born into a Jewish family but converted to Christianity later in her life (Jewish Women’s Archive). Due to her Jewish heritage, Meitner was forced to flee Germany in 1938, leaving Otto Hahn, her colleague, to work on experiments they had previously started (atomicarchive.com). On a personal level, Lise was honorable, kind, and very smart. She would have nothing to do with the atomic bomb, even though she had been invited multiple times to work on it.  She was extremely smart, but she wouldn’t allow herself to work on a bomb, keeping true to her beliefs. After being invited, Meitner stated that “I will have nothing to do with a bomb!” and was saddened when she found out the destruction it had caused, yet glad she didn’t have the weight of creating the bomb on her shoulders.

Throughout her science career, Lise worked with Otto Hahn (atomicarchive.com). Together, they discovered nuclear fission (Jewish Women’s Archive). Nuclear fission is when the nucleus of an atom is split into different parts and this discovery changed our world immensely. After this discovery, as well as the discovery of the element protactinium, Albert Einstein called Meitner the “Madame Curie” of nuclear physics (Jewish Women’s Archive).

The Big Picture-Science throughout History

To be a successful scientist, one has to have five specific attributes, and a few others couldn’t hurt. The first attribute a scientist must have is intelligence and talent (mikebrotherton.com). Scientists need to be intelligent because they need to know what they’re working with. They need talent because an untalented scientist will accomplish nothing, therefore they won’t be successful. The second attribute needed is the ability to stick to something for a very long time (mikebrotherton.com). Sometimes, scientists will spend years doing research and running experiments on the same subject. They need focus and they can’t get bored easily, otherwise they would only have half finished research and half finished experiments, never truly learning anything. The third attribute is good communication skills (mikebrotherton.com). If a scientist doesn’t have good communication skills, he/she won’t have good relationships with their colleagues, which is very important to become successful as a scientist. The fourth attribute needed is curiosity (mikebrotherton.com). Without curiosity, scientists wouldn’t feel the need to conduct experiments or do research, meaning that nothing new would ever be discovered. Without curiosity, we wouldn’t move forward in life because we’d be content knowing what we did. The fifth and final attribute is attention to detail (mikebrotherton.com). In science and engineering, being off by the smallest amount could cause harm to others. With an experiment, if you have too much of one chemical, you could end up exploding the entire laboratory. With attention to detail, things like that wouldn’t happen.

Throughout history, the world’s view of science has changed a great deal. First of all, science is now more detailed and far less vague (A Short History). For example, when Democritus and Aristotle first made a model of the atom, they had no idea that there was the nucleus hidden beneath the surface. But, after a while, people discovered every aspect of the atom and more are still being discovered. Not only is science less vague, it is also proven better with the help on inventions (A Short History). When the telescope was invented, people could gather proof that there was something outside of our planet and that we weren’t the center of the universe, instead of us just believing in what we were told.

Conclusion

Science has changed greatly throughout history, and every famous scientist you can think of has contributed to that in some way, including Lise Meitner. By discovering nuclear fission, Meitner and her colleagues opened up new doors for the scientific community. Now, our understanding has the ability to change even more and we can progress more than ever imagined before. We have already come so far, learning and proving more every day. We should all continue to expand our knowledge for the well being of the human race and everything around us.

Works Cited

"Lise Meitner (1878-1968)." Atomicarchive.com: Exploring the History, Science, and Consequences of the Atomic Bomb. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. <http://www.atomicarchive.com>.

Rife, Patricia. Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age. Boston: Birkhäuser, 1999. Print.

Rife, Patricia. "Lise Meitner." Jewish Women's Archive. Web. 07 Nov. 2011. <http://www.jwa.org>.

Sime, Ruth L. "Lise Meitner: A Battle for Ultimate Truth." Www.sdsc.edu. University of California Press. Web. 07 Nov. 2011.

Unknown Density Lab Reflection

1. In the procedure, they told you exactly how to measure things and what instruments to use, so it was all very specific. In the data table, they had the correct number of significant figures for every single number. In the calculations, everything was clear and all the answers were obviously seperated from the actual math. In the conclusion, they all had amazing detail and answered every question that was asked, some people even numbered their conclusions.

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      2.   An area that I did well in was my conclusion. I showed great details and answered mostly all of the questions asked in the prompt. Some things that I can improve on is my procedure and my calculations. In my procedure, I wasn't as specific as I could have been. I should have written down the names of the instruments used in the experiment or told how exactly to measure the volume of the objects. In my calculations I didn't use the correct number of significant figures, which could have drastically messed up my answers. In the future,  I will remember the rules for significant figures and make sure that I have the correct amount of significant figures.

Journal Prompt #1

Please answer EACH of the following questions. Write as much information as you need to explain your answer. Use evidence and examples from class to support your explanation. In addition to class examples, you may bring in prior knowledge into your discussion.

You should write about one paragraph (~5 sentences each) per bullet point.

• How has our understanding of the atom changed since Aristotle and Democritus's time?

Our understanding of the atom has changed a lot since Aristotle and Democritus' time. During their time, people thought that atoms were just large spheres that couldn't be cut into anything more. But, as time went on, people discovered there is more to the atom. We learned that there are electrons inside of every atom, as well as protons. We also learned that at the very center of the atom is a nucleas which all the electrons suround.

• What sort of evidence did scientists collect to make their models of the atom? Discuss Rutherford and Thomson.

Scientists collected a lot of evidence to prove that the atom wasn't just a solid sphere. Thomson used a device so that he could prove that there were electrons inside of an atom. Still, Thomson thought that atoms where made of a fluid type thing with no density at all. But, Rutherford discovered that there was a hard and denses part of the atom; the nucleas. He shot particles through a sheet of gold, and some bounced back after hitting the nucleas.

• Think back to the beginning of the school year… how was your construction of the Enigma Machine similar to what Rutherford and his colleagues did to infer the existence of the nucleus? How were the processes different?

At the beginning of the year, we made an Enigma Machine. This is similar to what Rutherford and his colleagues did to infer the existence of the nucleas because at first it was just guessing. We had no true way to prove that there was something in the middle of the Enigma Machine making it do what it did. Rutherford had no true proof that there was a nucleas. He just knew that there was something dense in the middle of the atom.