Nuclear Phenomenology: A Conceptual Proposal for High School Teaching

TL;DR

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for teaching nuclear physics in high schools, emphasizing historical and societal relevance of phenomena like nuclear decay, fission, and fusion.

Contribution

It introduces alternative nuclear physics topics suitable for high school education, focusing on their historical development and societal impact.

Findings

Highlights key nuclear phenomena for education

Suggests integrating history and technology in teaching

Enhances understanding of nuclear physics importance

Abstract

The discovery of atomic nucleus by E. Rutherford, at the beginning of the twentieth century, was the Nuclear Physics original landmark. From then, a series of experiments in which beams of particles composed of neutrons, protons and others, brought to collide with a nucleus in order to unravel its structure or produce artificial elements through nuclear transmutation, were triggered. With the development of experimental equipment, a number of other nuclear phenomena have been observed, such as beta decay, nuclear fission and fusion, M\"oesbauer 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.