Re: Terrifying future phrases

On Dec 19, 10:21 am, P. Taine <u...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

An atomic bomb is nonsense

A well-read person in the 20s would know about atomic bombs. H.G. Wells
wrote about them before the turn of the century (of course, what they would
know about them would turn out to be wrong).

An atomic bomb cleaves the uncleft, which is nonsense.
Today we know that the atom isn't an elementary particle
and the name isn't precisely accurate. The educated man
of the 1920s couldn't tell you what atoms are made of and
might regard the question as misguided.

Only if he had not followed work in physics. See:

http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1908/rutherfor...

It's more likely that an educated man would know Greek than
physics. A chemist who knew about the nucleus might be able
to guess that electrons orbit in shells, but that's just a theory.

We have the formulation of a "disintegration" model for radioactivity in 1900,
the discovery of the nucleus in 1910, and the modification of elements by alpha
bombardment in 1919 (transforming nitrogen to oxygen, though he didn't know it
immediately). During the same period (as a bit earlier) the various decay
sequences were being elucidated, showing the radioactivity was coupled with >the natural transformation of one element to another.

So, anyone in the 1920s with an interest in science should have known that
"atoms" were no elementary, and could be changed from one form to another. >They would also know that these transformations sometimes gave off energy.


Is it obvious that, given that mass is energy and radiation is
a form of energy, a radioactive element must lose mass?
Or is it only obvious from hindsight?

Someone with an interest in science isn't always a scientist.
A scientist isn't always educated, especially not in 1920.
Anyone can be a scientist if they can work with the tools of
science in a constructive way.
.

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