The following sections of this BookRags Literature Study Guide is offprint from Gale's For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author Biography, Plot Summary, Characters, Themes, Style, Historical Context, Critical Overview, Criticism and Critical Essays, Media Adaptations, Topics for Further Study, Compare & Contrast, What Do I Read Next?, For Further Study, and Sources.
(c)1998-2002; (c)2002 by Gale. Gale is an imprint of The Gale Group, Inc., a division of Thomson Learning, Inc. Gale and Design and Thomson Learning are trademarks used herein under license.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Encyclopedia of Popular Fiction: "Social Concerns", "Thematic Overview", "Techniques", "Literary Precedents", "Key Questions", "Related Titles", "Adaptations", "Related Web Sites". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
The following sections, if they exist, are offprint from Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults: "About the Author", "Overview", "Setting", "Literary Qualities", "Social Sensitivity", "Topics for Discussion", "Ideas for Reports and Papers". (c)1994-2005, by Walton Beacham.
All other sections in this Literature Study Guide are owned and copyrighted by BookRags, Inc.
Transmutation is the transformation of one element into another. This notion originated in alchemy but continues today as an important research area of physics and chemistry. The principal goal of alchemists was the conversion or transmutation of base metals like lead into gold. The alchemists searched from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century, in one manner or another, for the "philosopher's stone," which was thought to be the vital ingredient needed to transmute lead to gold. The search for the means to transmute was considered a noble occupation; even Isaac Newton (1642-1727) devoted much of his time to alchemy. This hope of converting one element into another using alchemical means was almost wholly abandoned by the late eighteenth century because it was regarded as foolish trickery.
The goal of transmutation was finally realized in the early twentieth century in radioactivity. In 1903, Ernest Rutherford and Frederick Soddy made the astonishing discovery that natural radioactivity involves transmutation. Radioactivity involves the change of atoms of one chemical element into atoms of another element. The change, known as radioactive decay, occurs when an unstable nucleus spits out one or more particles and transforms to a new nucleus. This new nucleus--that of a different element--may be stable, or also unstable and so capable of undergoing another transmutation. There are two types of radioactive decay, alpha decay (ejection of a nucleus of helium, two protons and two neutrons tightly bound together) and beta decay (ejection of an electron). Both of these transmute an original radioactive nucleus into the nucleus of another element. Through radioactivity, it is indeed possible to transmute uranium to lead. The alchemists of today are those nuclear chemists who routinely transmute uranium to plutonium by bombarding uranium with neutrons.