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Cobalt-60 A radioactive isotope of the element cobalt Cobalt-60 is an important source of gamma radiation and is used widely m research Coffin A thick-walled container (usually lead) used for transporting radioactive ma terials Compton effect The glancing collision of a gamma ray with an electron The gamma ray gives up part of its energy to the electron Control rod A rod (containing an ele ment such as' boron) used to control the power of a nuclear reactor The control rod absorbs neutrons which would normally split the fuel nuclei Pushing the rod in re duces the release of atomic power, pulling out the rod increases it CONVERTER A nuclear reactor which uses one kind of fuel and produces another For example a converter charged with uranium tsotopes might consume urantum-235 and produce plutonium from urantum-238 A breeder produces more atomic fuel than it consumes A converter does not Coolant The fluid which conducts heat from the core of a reactor so that it can be put to work The coolant may be water, steam, hydrocarbons, or gases such as helium or carbon dioxide, or liquefied metals such as sodium CORE The heart of a nuclear reactor where the nuclei of the fuel fisston (split) and release energy The core is usually surrounded by a reflecting matenal which bounces stray neutrons back to the fuel It is usually made up of fuel elements and a moderator COSMOTRON A huge accelerator, one of the atomic "guns," located at Brookhaven National Laboratory It speeds up particles to the billion electron volt range The Brookhaven machine has a magnet weighing 2200 tons Counter A device for counting nuclear disintegrations to measure radioactivity The signal which announces a disintegration is called a count See Geiger counter and scintillation counter Critical mass The amount of nuclear fuel necessary to sustain a chain reaction If too little fuel is present too many neutrons will stray and the reaction will die out Curie A measure of the rate at which a radioactive matenal throws off particles The radioactivity of one gram of radium is a cune It is named for Pierre and Mane Cune, pio neers in radioactivity and discoverers of the elements radium, radon, and polonium One cune corresponds to 37 billion disintegrations per second CUTIE-PIE A portable instrument equipped with a direct reading meter used to determine the level of radiation m an area Cyclotron A particle accelerator In this atomic "merry-go-round" atomic particles are whirled around in a spiral between the ends of a huge magnet gaining speed with each rotation in preparation for their assault on the target matenal Decay When a radioactive atom disin tegrates it is said to decay What remains is a different element An atom of polonium de cays to form lead, ejecting an alpha particle in the process Deuterium Heavy hydrogen The nu cleus of heavy hydrogen is a deuteron It is called heavy hydrogen because it weighs twice as much as ordinary hydrogen Deuteron The nucleus of an atom of heavy hydrogen containing one proton and one neutron Deuterons are often used for the bombardment of other nuclei Dosimeter (dose meter) An instrument used to determine the radiation dose a person has received Electron A minute atomic particle pos sessing the smallest amount of negative elec tric charge found thus far in nature In an atom the electrons rotate around a small nu cleus The weight of an electron is so in finitesimal that it would take 500 octillions (500 followed by 27 zeros) of them to make a pound It is only about a two-thousandth of the mass of a proton or neutron Electron volt (ev) A small unit of energy An electron gains this much energy when it is acted upon by one volt See bev Element A basic substance consisting 1435