Tracks to innovation
Subtitle: nuclear tracks in science and technology
By: Robert L. Fleischer.
Publisher: Springer
Published: 1998
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 193
Subjects: Particle tracks (Nuclear physics); Particle track etching
Description: In the early 1960s, it was discovered that when mica is exposed to energetic charged particles (from radioactive decays or cosmic rays, for example), the particles leave latent tracks in the material.

Three scientists at General Electric (Buford Price, Robert Walker, and the author) found that chemically etching such an irradiated material reveals the tracks as narrow, deep pits, whose size and shape are determined both by the particle that made the track, by the material in which the track is made, and by the technique used in etching. It soon turned out that glass, plastics, or certain other materials can similarly be used to detect nuclear particles.

This discovery paved the way not only for a new and useful method of detecting nuclear radiation, it has also found widespread applications in other fields. Fleischer presents the history of these developments and discusses the applications of the technique in a way that will be of interest to anyone with a minimal knowledge of physics.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and indexes.