Nuclear Physics Explained

Course Overview

Explore the fundamental forces of nuclear energy, weapons, and medicine with award-winning physicist Professor Lawrence Weinstein. This 24-lecture journey reveals how atomic nuclei work, from quarks and gluons to reactors and medical imaging, while demystifying radiation risks.

Video Lessons

Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics

1. A Tour of the Nucleus and Nuclear Forces (33 min)
   Introduction to atomic constituents and the periodic table
2. Curve of Binding Energy: Fission and Fusion (32 min)
   How nuclear forces shape energy release in reactions
3. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Decay (33 min)
   Three types of radioactive decay and their properties

Radiation in Our World

4. Radiation Sources, Natural and Unnatural (29 min)
   Cosmic rays to consumer products emitting radiation
5. How Dangerous Is Radiation? (29 min)
   Differentiating ionizing vs non-ionizing radiation risks

Nuclear Structure & Research

6. The Liquid-Drop Model of the Nucleus (29 min)
   Visualizing nuclei behaving like liquid drops
7. The Quantum Nucleus and Magic Numbers (29 min)
   Nuclear shell model and stable configurations
8. Particle Accelerators: Schools of Scattering (35 min)
   Inside Jefferson Lab’s electron beam facilities

Experimental Techniques

9. Detecting Subatomic Particles (31 min)
   From Geiger counters to modern scintillators
10. How to Experiment with Nuclear Collisions (31 min)
    Designing nuclear physics experiments
11. Scattering Nucleons in Singles or in Pairs (32 min)
    Probing quantum orbits in nuclear shells

Fundamental Particles

12. Sea Quarks, Gluons, and the Origin of Mass (29 min)
    What really gives protons and neutrons their mass

Cosmic Nuclear Processes

13. Nuclear Fusion in Our Sun (31 min)
    How stars overcome Coulomb barriers
14. Making Elements: Big Bang to Neutron Stars (31 min)
    Nucleosynthesis across cosmic events

Nuclear Technology

15. Splitting the Nucleus (28 min)
    The physics behind induced fission
16. Nuclear Weapons Were Never “Atomic” Bombs (27 min)
    How fission and H-bombs actually work
17. Harnessing Nuclear Chain Reactions (32 min)
    Reactor designs and controlled fission

Nuclear Safety & Future

18. Nuclear Accidents and Lessons Learned (29 min)
    Three Mile Island to Fukushima failures
19. The Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Advanced Reactors (29 min)
    Next-generation reactor technologies
20. Nuclear Fusion: Obstacles and Achievements (28 min)
    Tokamaks and the fusion power challenge

Medical Applications

21. Killing Cancer with Isotopes, X-Rays, Protons (28 min)
    Radiation oncology’s precision tools
22. Medical Imaging: CT, PET, SPECT, and MRI (30 min)
    How nuclear physics enables diagnosis

Practical Uses

23. Isotopes as Clocks and Fingerprints (30 min)
    Radiocarbon dating to fraud detection
24. Viewing the World with Radiation (33 min)
    Cosmic ray archaeology to supernova theories