Nuclear phenomenology: a conceptual proposal for High School teaching

Abstract

The discovery of atomic nucleus by E. Rutherford, at the
beginning of the twentieth century, was the Nuclear Physics
original landmark, from then triggered by a series of experiments
in which beams of particles, composed of neutrons, protons and
others, were taken colliding with a nucleus, in order to unravel
its structure or produce artificial elements through nuclear
transmutation. With the development of experimental equipment a
number of other nuclear phenomena have been observed, such as
beta decay, nuclear fission and fusion, Möesbauer effect, etc. In
view of the global political and economic landscape and the
contemporary educational trends this work suggest alternative
topics in Nuclear Physics that can be discussed at the conceptual
level in High School teaching, where the main focus lies in the
historical and technological importance of such phenomena in
society.