The silver wedding anniversary celebration of the couple was in full swing. Several relatives, friends and well wishers had gathered to toast the couple’s life together. “When they first got married and she came into our family, she was such a hot head!! Our boy has certainly tamed her for good!” whispered the grand old lady. “She beautifully learnt to gel into our family. My son is so lucky to have found her…” was the proud smile on the mother’s face. “His way of looking at everything has seeped into my daughter. She has a larger perspective of everything around her now!”- tears of happiness brimmed in the father’s eyes. “Hey! I cannot believe you have changed my bro so much!! He is so docile, patient and cultured!! Where has all his aggression gone?” a mischievous smile of affection crossed the sister’s face. The couple were at ease with each other. This was a celebration of several accomplishments including learning to live in harmony, peacefully and happily with each other. It was also an acknowledgement of the roles each one of those present had played in helping them arrive at this day. Silently they looked into each other’s eyes – a promise for all the years ahead to journey together, changes to adapt, dreams to be fulfilled…

Science, looking at that scene, wondered do people really change all that much? Was it possible for someone to imbibe qualities from their spouse over a span of time that probably was once alien to their nature? Is it an evolutionary process? But isn’t one lifetime too soon for evolution? Or is it a result to the nature versus nurture argument – environment and surroundings creating lasting change in behaviour? If so, would such change last if the influence of the environment is gone? Even before Science heard the Lord, he felt His gentle presence. Turning with anticipation, Science looked into the smiling eyes of His Father, receptive for a dialogue.

God: My child! Was Isaac Newton an Alchemist?

Science: Father! Sir Isaac Newton spent close to thirty years of his life on alchemy trying to turn lead into gold like the medieval chemists.

God: So was he successful?

Science: Well! Newton came to the conclusion that in all chemical reactions the basic elements remain unaltered – the atomic elements can be combined as different compounds but the elements do not change.

God: Oh! Is that right? Elements don’t change, is it?

Science: Well actually no! That’s not it! Having accepted that elements do not change, chemists believed that the transmutation of one element into another was impossible. That is until about a hundred years ago when scientists discovered radioactivity that displayed the possibility of one element turning into another!

God: Sounds interesting… What did man discover?

Science: Pierre and Marie Curie tested an ore of uranium pitchblende for its ability to turn air into a conductor of electricity. The Curies found that the pitchblende produced a current 300 times stronger than that produced by pure uranium. They reasoned that a very active unknown substance in addition to the uranium must exist within the pitchblende. In the title of a paper describing this hypothesised element which they later named polonium, they introduced the new term: “radio-active.”  After much gruelling work, the Curies were able to extract enough polonium and another radioactive element, radium, to establish the chemical properties of these elements. Mr.Radioactive and Ms.Radium – the Curies, established the first quantitative standards by which the rate of radioactive emission of charged particles from elements could be measured and compared, winning for them the Nobel prize. Marie Curie’s greatest and most unique achievement was her realisation that radiation is an atomic property of matter rather than a separate independent emanation, for which she was awarded her second Nobel.

God: So what exactly is radioactivity?

Science: Unstable atomic nuclei will spontaneously decompose to form nuclei with a higher stability. The decomposition process is called radioactivity. The energy and particles which are released during the decomposition process are called radiation. When unstable nuclei decompose in nature, the process is referred to as natural radioactivity. When the unstable nuclei are prepared in the laboratory, the decomposition is called induced radioactivity.

God: (with a smile) shall we make that a little bit more elaborate, simple and clear?

Science: (smiling in return) Man discovered that everything is made of atoms and atoms bind together into molecules. Inside every atom are three subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons and neutrons bind together to form the nucleus of the atom, while the electrons surround and orbit the nucleus. Protons and electrons have opposite charges and therefore attract one another, and in most cases the number of electrons and protons are the same for an atom. The neutrons are neutral. Their purpose in the nucleus is to bind protons together. Because the protons all have the same charge and would naturally repel one another, the neutrons act as “glue” to hold the protons tightly together in the nucleus. The number of protons in the nucleus determines the behaviour of an atom.

God: Hmm… Can you give me an example?

Science: If we combine 13 protons with 14 neutrons to create a nucleus and then spin 13 electrons around that nucleus, what we have is an aluminium atom. If we group millions of aluminium atoms together we get a substance that is aluminium – we can form aluminium cans, aluminium foil and aluminium siding out of it. All aluminium that man finds in nature is called aluminum-27. The “27” is the atomic mass number – the sum of the number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus. If we take an atom of aluminium and put it in a bottle and come back in several million years, it will still be an atom of aluminium. Aluminum-27 is therefore called a stable atom. Up to about 100 years ago, it was thought that all atoms were stable like this.

God: So I guess man discovered there are unstable atoms as well! Right?

Science: Yes Father! The part that was not understood earlier is that certain elements have a lack of necessary neutrons making the nucleus unstable. An isotope is a variant on a basic element, a substance made of atoms with a different number of neutrons than is typical. When the configuration of the atom is unstable, nuclear decay can result, turning the atoms into showers of radioactive particles…

God: …which is what man calls ‘radiation’ I guess.

Science: Yes! Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels through space and may be able to penetrate various materials. There is both non-ionising radiation like light, radio and microwaves, or ionising radiation that is produced by unstable atoms and produces charged particles (ions) in matter.

God: So how does man identify which elements are radioactive?

Science: That has been a gruelling journey. In some elements, all of the isotopes are radioactive while in others not so. Hydrogen is a good example of an element with multiple isotopes. Normal hydrogen, or hydrogen-1, has one proton and no neutrons. There is another isotope, hydrogen-2 (also known as deuterium), that has one proton and one neutron. The deuterium isotope of hydrogen is stable. A third isotope, hydrogen-3 (also known as tritium), has one proton and two neutrons. It turns out this isotope is unstable and causes radiation. That is, if we have a container full of tritium and come back in a million years, we will find that it has all turned into helium-3 (two protons, one neutron) – the nucleus loses one neutron and gains one proton.  Now helium-3 is stable. The process by which hydrogen-3 turns into helium is called radioactive decay.

God: So is man trying to stop elements from being radioactive?

Science: Oh no! Humanity understands that radioactive decay is a natural process. An atom of a radioactive isotope will spontaneously decay into another element through one of three common processes: Alpha decay, Beta decay, Spontaneous fission. However, although they are “natural” and radioactive elements is part of nature, radioactive emissions are dangerous to living things. When these rays interact with an atom they can knock off an orbital electron. The loss of an electron can cause problems, including everything from cell death to genetic mutations (leading to cancer), in any living thing. There are also a number of man-made nuclear elements in the environment that are harmful. However, despite the significant dangers, nuclear radiation has powerful benefits too, such as nuclear power to generate electricity and nuclear medicine to detect and treat disease.

As Science concluded, he saw the Father’s eyes riveted on the celebrating couple. A gentle smile was hovering on His lips, a charming twinkling in His eyes.

God: Man is meant to radiate his happiness. Every man is Mr.Radioactive and every woman Ms.Radium. They indeed can alter everything in each other’s life! My child, life is indeed ‘radioactive’ – capable of giving radiant energy! That is why it is important to keep the right company. Just a mere presence, even when no apparent interactions take place, is capable of changing the ‘nucleus’ of the individual. No wonder my enlightened child Gautama, the Buddha pronounced ‘Sangam Sharanam Gatchami’– ensure you take refuge in the right company!

Written by Gita Krishna Raj  |  Published in infinithoughts in June 2010

When Science met God… |  Segment Five: Why Me?  | Chapter Eight: Mr.Radioactive & Ms.Radium