Syllabus

Course Meeting Times

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

Recitations: 1 session / week, 2 hours / session

Prerequisites

This course, which is the first subject in the Nuclear Science and Engineering undergraduate degree sequence, has no prerequisites. It is generally taken in the first semester of sophomore year, after two semesters of freshman calculus and physics.

Introduction to the Course

Radiation is the central aspect which makes Nuclear Science and Engineering (NSE) its own discipline, and sets the foundation for almost all of modern physics. We will begin by retracing the steps of famous radiation experiments and hypotheses. Next we will set the stage and context for our study of radiation, by showing details of the systems and reactors which use radiation. The rest of the course (about 75%) will be dedicated to describing the origins, interactions, uses, detection, and biological / chemical effects of ionizing radiation.

Textbook

Yip, Sidney. Nuclear Radiation Interactions. World Scientific Publishing Company, 2014. ISBN: 9789814368070.

Grading

Assignments Policies

Working Together, Academic Integrity

Working together is OK! If you work in a team, you must:

1. Acknowledge your team members prominently in the assignment, whether it is analytical or laboratory based
2. Write your own laboratory articles from scratch
3. Write / typeset your own problem sets (no xeroxing)
4. State who did which parts of the assignment. If we sense that someone is doing almost all the work, we will meet with you to prevent this sort of thing.

In addition, all students must read the MIT guidelines on academic honesty and integrity.

Late Policy

10% of the value of a given assignment will be deducted for each calendar day late.

Calendar

Session Key:

L = Lecture

R = Recitation

Q = Quiz or exam