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Odysseus is a hero of all times thanks to Homer who wrote his story in The Odyssey

Odysseus

Odysseus is a hero of all times thanks to Homer who wrote his story in The Odyssey. Odysseus is a hero in his on time because of all his adventures and characteristics. Homer wrote about the Trojan War, in which Odysseus took part in, in the Iliad, and about Odysseus’ long journey home in, The Odyssey. There have been theories that suggest that Homer was illiterate and could not have possibly recited poems of these lengths by memory, and that they were put together much later on and added to. However, there is evidence that a city, possible Troy, existed and was destroyed. Also there was a kingdom of Ithica, which allows for a king Odysseus. Even if the King did not go to the war there was still a chance that he might have existed. In the Odyssey, Homer used a narrative structure to tell his stories. The original texts were written on papyrus scrolls and it is theorized that these scrolls each told a chapter in Homers plays. The modern version of The Odyssey is a combination of all these scrolls that could have existed as separate stories about Odysseus’ travels, his encounters, and how he obtained his status as a hero. Ancient Greece has always been an interest of mine. In 6th grade a teacher that I had know for my whole schooling showed a movie every week.

One week we watched “Jason and the Argonaughts”. Ever since then I could never get enough Greek mythology. In freshman year of high school we read the annotated textbook version of The Odyssey. Lucky for me, I transferred English classes at the semester and I was able to read The Odyssey twice. And since then Odysseus has been a hero to me. The story starts in book 9, Odysseus telling his story to the King of Phaeaica. They sacked a city then sailed away when faced with opposing force. Next, they landed on the island of the lotus-eaters. After Odysseus pried his crew away from the lotus-eaters, they landed on the island of the Cyclops. Here is where Odysseus displays all his heroic qualities. Odysseus picked twelve of the best warriors from his crew to accompany him on the visit to the Cyclops, Polyphemus, and son of the god that shakes the Earth, Poseidon. Polyphemus takes Odysseus captive and proceeds to eat his warriors for meals. Odysseus dreams up an ingenious plan. He reveals to the Cyclops that his name is Nobody. Then, while the Cyclops slept, Odysseus sharpened a log, heated it to an ember, and blinded the Cyclops. When Polyphemus cried to the other Cyclops that he had been blinded, he told them that Nobody had blinded him so the other Cyclops did not come to his help.

Then to complete his plan, Odysseus and his remaining crew hid in the under belly of Polyphemus’ sheep when they went out to pasture. Odysseus had to actually hold on to the sheep’s under belly with his arms, unlike his crew who was tied to them. Odysseus uses his heroic qualities to over come all the conflicts that the fates and the Gods throw at him. He uses his cunning when he returns to his household. First he has to figure out a way to defeat all the suitors when there are only three of them. After he defeats the suitors, he has to play mind games with his wife Penelope because of the warning Agamemnon gave him at the river of death. Another heroic quality is his looks and charm. If Odysseus had not have been as handsome then Circe would not have seduced him and he would not have been giving the advice about the river of the dead, the Sirens, Scylla and Charyboidis. Also, at the end of his journey had he not been handsome, Calypso would not have taken him in, fed him and gave him shelter, and he would have died on her island. And after all that, I do not believe that he would have been as welcomed at the Kingdom of Pheaecia by the princess Nausicaa. Having the protection of a god is also a certain quality of a hero.

Athena constantly helps Odysseus during his travels. Athena helps him escape from Calypso’s island, helps him land on Pheaecia, and she also disguises him when he finally reaches home in order to help trick the suitors. Finally Odysseus super human strength helps him become a hero. Out of all the heroes that went into the Trojan War, Odysseus was one of the few that came back alive and lived. His strength and fighting ability helped him in the war. Also without his strength he would have not been able to escape from the Cyclops, Polyphemus. His strength was also useful when he had to string his bow in order to win Penelope from the suitors and kill them all. In the text, heroism is defined as certain qualities that are revealed in interaction between the Gods, monsters and other humans. In book 8, page 207, line 559-84, the bard, Demodocus, tells the story of the hero Odysseus and how he defeated the Trojans. This is an example of how the Greeks remembered heroes, by their actions. Before the story Odysseus earns his title as a superb war hero by defeating the Trojans. Then in his journey home, Odysseus bests the son of a god, the Cyclops, Polyphemus. After that he tricks Circe, then he passes the Sirens, Scylla, and Charyboidis.

And upon completion of his journey home Odysseus achieves the greatest task of all. A mere mortal beats a god; Odysseus battles with Poseidon through the whole story. All these conflicts earn Odysseus his rightful title of Hero in ancient Greece. In order to encounter all these conflicts, Odysseus has to endure great suffering. He is kept from his lovely wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, for twenty years. Not only that but he has to suffer by watching monsters such as Polypheums and Scylla devour his crew. And then he has to endure the destruction of his ship and crew at the hands of Zeus after they slaughtered the sun god’s cattle. Odysseus has suffered more than anyone that I can imagine. Odysseus is a classic Greek hero. A person has many attributes and events that make them a hero. In ancient Greece to be a hero you had to have certain advantages then the ordinary citizen. There was a very strict view on who could become a hero in ancient Greece. This stereotype was, a male born to a rich/high class family. Many heroes have come and gone, but Odysseus is one of the few that have remained. The reason that Odysseus is one of the few is that he displays all the characteristics of a hero in ancient Greek culture as well in today’s culture. During all of Odysseus’ encounters, he uses his “metes”, or street smarts, the most to survive and come out on top. Even though in most situations he could easily fight his way out he still tries to think his way out. Will Odysseus remain in the realm of heroism in the distant future or will our views of heroism change and eliminate Odysseus from the hero category?

Bibliography:

Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions

Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions

The purpose of this lab is to compare the nucleophilic abilities of the addition of chloride and bromide ions to the compounds of n-butyl alcohol and tertiary butyl alcohol, in SN1 and SN2 environments. This will determine which of the anions the better nucleophile, in each mechanism is.

To better understand the reactivity of competing nucleophiles, the mechanisms of their reactions must be observed. In the lab, both of the basic nucleophilic mechanisms of unimolecular and bimolecular substitution reactions take place. In both of these reactions, the reactivity is based on the substrates structure, the nucleophile’s basicity, and the reaction conditions, such as the solvent used and the temperature (Smith 389). In the substitution bimolecular reaction (SN2), the reaction is bimolecular and takes place in a one-step process. The rate is dependent on both the concentration of the substrate and the nucleophile. This makes the mechanism a second-order reaction. The rate law is described as Rate = k [substrate][nucleophile] (Carey 331). If a large excess of the nucleophile is present then the law would be a pseudo-first order reaction (false-first order) (Smith 390). But in this experiment, this will not be observed. SN2 reactions occur mostly with the substrates being a methyl structure or a primary and sometimes a secondary structure. These structures allow for a backside attack of the nucleophile to take place. The mechanism rarely proceeds with a tertiary structure. This is due to the steric hindrance that does not allow the back attack of the nucleophile, because of the decreased availability to attack the carbon atom (390). Usually a good leaving group on the substrate, such as a halogen, is present for substitution, but in this experiment the halogens will be acting as the nucleophiles. The nucleophiles of SN2 reactions must act as a Lewis base. The stronger the Lewis base, the faster the nucleophile will attack the substrate. For the SN2 reaction to occur, the use of a polar aprotic solvent should be used. Ideally, the substrate should remain depronated or else a front side attack of the nucleophile may take place. This is why the non-polar solvent is used. The temperature of the mechanism is low (Carey 322). Once the environment is established, the reaction proceeds as follows:

H H H H Nu + H C X Nu—–C——X Nu C H + X

H H HThe rate-determining step is when the nucleophile is partially bonded to the carbon atom, while the leaving group is partially being pushed off. This intermediate is called a pent coordinate (309). The substitution from the opposite side causes inversion of the product to invert from its starting configuration of dextrorotary (+) or levorotary (-) to its opposite enantiomer. Walden inversion is the name of this process. The product produced is one hundred percent of the inversion of the reactant (308).

In the substitution unimolecular reaction (SN1), the rate is also based on the substrate’s structure, the nucleophile’s basicity, and the reaction conditions. The mechanism is unimolecular and it is a two-step process. The first-order rate law is described as Rate = k [substrate] (Smith 394). The concentration of the substrate is the sole component in the rate law. This is from the slow step of the substrate’s ionization to form the carbocation. This must occur first. Because the formation of the carbocation, caused by the removal of the leaving group, requires less energy in tertiary and secondary structures, SN1 reactions never occur with methyl or primary substrates (393). A good leaving group is also needed, such as a halide. But again, the experiment uses the halides as the nucleophile. Opposite of the SN2 reaction, the nucleophile must be a weaker Lewis base. The use of a polar protic solvent is needed for the mechanism to take place. The polar solvent allows for the required pronation of the carbon atom to occur, so the weaker nucleophile can begin to attack. The temperature of the SN1 mechanism also remains fairly low (Carey 331). The reaction will proceed as follows:

CH CH CH

H C C X + Nu H C C + + Nu + X H C C Nu + X

CH CH CHSince the nucleophile can add to either the front side or the backside of the carbocation intermediate, a racemic mixture of the product is produced. However, slightly more of the inverted enantiomer is produced (319).

The main reagents used in this experiment are n-butyl alcohol, tertiary butyl alcohol, ammonium chloride, and ammonium bromide. The substrates are the two alcohols and the nucleophiles are equal amounts of the chloride and bromide ions from the ammonium salts. Consequently, alcohols do not readily react by simple nucleophilic substitution as halides do. For this reason, of the need to remove the strong hydroxide ion base of the alcohol, the use of an acidic medium must be used. Such an acid is concentrated sulfuric acid. The acid causes a rapid pronation of the alcohol, creating water, then the stable water molecule dissociates from the nucleophile. This allows the chloride and bromide ions to attack the carbocation. Depending on the structures of normal or tertiary, the ions will react with an SN1 or SN2 mechanism (Handout). Because equal molar concentrations of the ammonium salts are added, the conclusion of which is the better nucleophile, the one that can readily attack the substrate at a faster rate, can be attained. The analysis of the percent of alkyl halide products can be achieved with the use of a refractometer.

The Abbe refractometer is an important tool in analyzing liquid samples. It helps to acquire their identity and purity. It is used to measure the refractive idecies of the compounds being analyzed (Ault 161). An index of refraction is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum to the speed of light in the sample. The critical angle helps to distinguish this ratio. The angle is found by the use of Snell’s Law. It is described as the sin of a lights angle change through an air or vacuum media divided by the sin of the angle change through water, glass, or a prism. The refractive indices depend on the temperature as well as the frequency of the light (Palleros 238). For this reason, the refractive indices are usually standardized with a sodium lamp. This is the D line of sodium that has the wavelength of 5,890 nanometers. With the conditions, organic compound’s refractive indices range from 1.35 to 1.50 with added .00035 to .00055 for every degree above twenty degrees centigrade. The refractometer finds the critical angle of the sample between two glass prisms with a white light. The waves of light are refracted, or the speed and direction the light goes, below angles of critical value. The light is then adjusted by an adjustable reflector, until the critical boundary between the light and dark region shows in the eyepiece. The reading of the refractive index with a plus or minus 0.0002 error is taken (Ault 162).

Starting the lab begins with an assembly of a reflux apparatus. This is needed to carry out a reaction at high temperatures, constantly for long periods of time. The apparatus does not allow any solvent to escape into the atmosphere while boiling (Garner 123). The use of an acid trap is also needed due to the gas created by the heated sulfuric acid. Next, the solvent-nucleophile medium is made. It is composed of concentrated sulfuric acid, ice water, and equal molar amounts of ammonium chloride and ammonium bromide. Since ammonium chloride is only 28.3% soluble at twenty-five degrees Celsius, the solid salts are heated to dissolve, then half of the medium is transferred to a separatory funnel.

The n-butyl alcohol is then added down the condenser of the reflux apparatus, and a slight boiling is achieved. It is then boiled for seventy-five minutes. During the refluxing, the reactions with the tertiary butyl alcohol are then ran.

To begin the reactions, the t-butyl alcohol is added to the separatory funnel containing the solvent-nucleophile medium. The solvent and the alcohol are then mixed for two minutes, and the pressure is equalized in the funnel. After mixing, the alkyl halide layers should be formed by allowing the separatory funnel to sit for about two minutes. The lower layer, which is the acid and water, is drained and the less dense alkyl halide top layer is poured into a beaker containing solid anhydrous sodium bicarbonate. This is used as a drying agent to remove any contamination of water in the alkyl halide layer. Once the drying process is complete, the clear product is transferred into a vial with Saran wrap under the cap and saved for analysis on the refractometer.

Once the t-butyl alcohol procedure has been completed, the reflux period should be finished. The refluxed solution containing sulfuric acid and the alkyl halides is cooled and swirled to complete the reactions. The cooled solution is then transferred to the separatory funnel, and extracted with sodium bicarbonate. The sodium bicarbonate is used as an extracting liquid because it is insoluble with alcohols, and it is a very low polar molecule (Garner 131). After it extracts the organic layer, the lower dense layer is drained into a beaker containing solid anhydrous sodium sulfate. The sodium sulfate is also used as a drying agent to help to take out the contaminating water from the alkyl halide layer. The solution should be clear, and be placed in a vial with Saran wrap and saved for analysis on the refractometer (Handout).

The refractive indices for the SN2 mechanism products of pure 1-chlorobutane and pure 1-bromobutane are 1.4280 and 1.4398 respectively at twenty degrees Celsius. The SN1 mechanism’s pure products of 2-chloro-2-methyl propane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane have the refractive indices of 1.3877 and 1.4280 at twenty degrees Celsius. Since each of the mechanisms products retain a percentage of each product and no amount of pure product, the refractive index of the SN 2 reactions should read between the pure readings of the 1-chlorobutane and the 1-bromobutane. Also the index of the SN 1 reactions should read between the pure readings of 2-chloro-2-methylpropane and 2-bromo-2-methylpropane (handout). Since this is true, the use of the following graphs could be used to estimate the percentages of each product:

To have a more accurate composition of the percentages, the following math equation can be used:

X= % Br (1.4398)(X) + (1.4015)(1- X)= refractometer reading

Once the percentages are found, the average molecular weight, theoretical yield, and percent yield can all be attained and calculated (Handout).

The following tables are from the experimentation done in the laboratory:

SN2 SN1

Weight of n-alcohol 4.22 g Weight of t-alcohol 5.25g

Weight of product 1.46g Weight of product 1.40g

Refractometer reading 1.4353 Refractometer reading 1.3984

Percent n-bromobutane 88.2% Percent of t-bromobutane 23.6%

Percent n-chlorobutane 11.8% Percent of t-chlorobutane 76.4%

Theoretical Yield 7.50g Theoretical yield 7.29g

Percent yield 19.4% Percent yield 19.2%

The purpose of this lab was to compare the nucleophicility of the competing chloride and bromide ions in SN1 and SN2 mechanism environments, when reacting with t-butyl alcohol and n-butyl alcohol. For the comparison of the nucleophilic abilities of the two halide ions in SN1 and SN2 mechanisms to be observed, equal molar concentrations of the soluble ammonium salts of ammonium chloride and ammonium bromide were added to both the t and n-butyl alcohols. Usually, alkyl halides are used as the substrate, because of the halide leaving group, and water as the nucleophile to produce an alcohol. Since the leaving group and nucleophile are reversed, the use of concentrated sulfuric acid is needed. This allows the hydroxyl group, which is a strong base, to pronate off of the carbon atom that in turn creates the reactive carbocation. The procedures for the SN1 and SN2 reactions proceeded and the chlorobutane and bromobutane products were produced. The percentages of each of the products were discovered by analysis with the refractometer and simple calculations. The average molecular weights for the normal and tertiary halides were calculated, along with the theoretical yield and percent yield.

The data of the lab showed that the bromide ions in SN2 reactions have greater nucleophilicity than that of the chloride ions. Adversely, the chloride ions have greater nucleophilicity than bromide ions in SN1 reactions. In the SN2 reactions, bromide is a better nucleophile because it is a stronger Lewis base than chloride. This is due to the increased distance of the bromine’s electrons from its nucleus (Carey 313). Since the bromide is a larger molecule and there are no side chains on the n-butyl alcohol to cause steric hindrance, the bromide attacks the carbocation at a faster rate than the chloride. These occurrences are evident from the data found from the refractometer reading.

In the SN1 reactions, the chloride reacts with the t-butyl alcohol at a faster rate than that of the bromide. The chloride ion is a weaker Lewis base than bromide, making it more suitable for the SN1 reaction. This is from the electrons being closer to the nucleus in the ion (313). The tertiary structure of the butyl alcohol causes steric hindrance on the attacking nucleophiles. Since the bromide ion is larger than the chloride ion, the hindrance does not allow the larger ion to attack as easily as the chloride. This allows the chloride to add at a faster rate. Again, the evidence is found in the refractometer readings.

The data also shows a small percent yield of product. This implies that there were many places for error to occur. Possible errors include the following: Not dissolving the ammonium salts by not heating the solution enough, pouring the n-butyl alcohol into the condenser and allowing some to run down the outside (actual occurrence), having the heat too high when refluxing; this may cause the solution to be lossed from rapid boiling, not allowing the layers to separate completely in the separatory funnel, not venting the separatory funnel while mixing; too much pressure could build up causing the stopper to pop off (actual occurrence), confusing the organic layer with the water layers, not using enough of the drying agents, or not sealing the storage vial tight enough to allow the alkyl halides to evaporate (actual occurrence).

Errors on the refractometer reading may also occur. This could be from the ignorance of cleaning the prisms on the refractometer, or by incomplete covering of the prism with the alkyl halide solutions.

Refractometry has many uses. Not only can it be used to evaluate reactivity of certain compounds, it can also be used to find the identity of a compound, the density of a compound, or the concentration of a compound. In practical situations, such as winemaking, the refractometer can be used to find the amount of the ingredients in the wine. One could possibly find the alcohol content or even the sugar content. Other uses could be in identifying the oils, fats, or proteins in food and other places. It can also be used to find the chemical makeup of an unknown substance, such as drug analysis. Refractometry is one of the experimental methods that has many uses. It is used for many different situations and it is a valuable technique for any organization that requires the analysis of any chemical compounds.

Bibliography:

Ault, Addison. Techniques and Experiments for Organic Chemistry. Sausalito,

California: University Science Books, 1998.

Carey, Francis. Organic Chemistry: Fourth Edition. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2000.

Garner, Charles. Techniques and Experiments for Advanced Organic Laboratory.

New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1997.

Handout. Experiment 24: Nucleophilic Substitution Reactions: Competing Nucleophiles

Palleros, Daniel. Experimental Organic Chemistry. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.,

2000.

Smith, Michael and Jerry March. March’s Advanced Organic Chemistry: Reactions,

Mechanisms, and Structure. Fifth Edition. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc.,

2001.

Nuclear Proliferation

Nuclear Proliferation

The United States of America has always been a nation that others could look to when a precedent was needed. We have always maintained a high international standing, if not being the World leader. Yet, in recent times, our concerns have begun to shift. Legislation that is needed to ensure that America stays involved in the world happenings has been ignored. One of these major international mishaps came very recently with the defeat of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Although it is true that the Treaty was not properly introduced and may have needed some revision, it was still an important and monumental piece of work, which should have been given greater consideration on the Senate Floor.

As you know, the Treaty called for an international ban on nuclear weapons testing, both above and below ground. We, the United States, have not tested a nuclear weapon in seven years, but many other nations such as North Korea and Iran have just recently become nuclear powers, and are testing their weapons often. If passed, this Treaty would have allowed the U.S. to maintain international leadership, while strengthening the international coalition against further nuclear proliferation.

Many of the Treaty’s basic principles are based on years of legislation. It is not as if the world has suddenly decided that weapons are destructive and should be limited. The first anti-weapons legislation came in the Kennedy administration, and the trend was followed in administrations thereafter. Many Americans fear that by the sudden disregard for past policies and the lack of concern for international politics will create a rift between the United States and some foreign nations. International relations between the U.S. and countries like Russia had just began to make vast improvements, and now the defeat of a favorable Treaty will “destabilize the foundations of international relations” (Johnson).

There are also some other internationally based concerns, ones that focus on the impact on American international standings, and the standing of the Treaty. “The Clinton administration and Senate Democrats, backed by European allies, argue that the pact would not threaten American nuclear might” (Tyson 1). Yet, despite all of the assurances, the predominantly Republican Senate voted against the Treaty. Only a few short hours after the defeat Hillary Clinton stated that “this vote sent a dangerous message to people around the world, to our allies, and to Americans at home” (Nagourney B5). This message that Mrs. Clinton refers to is one that discourages nations to sign the treaty, and as she predicted, an official from Pakistan said “it is virtually certain now that neither Pakistan nor India will sign [the Treaty]” (Johnson). Without signing the Treaty ourselves, we hold no authority on which to persuade other nations to sign (Kimball).

When other nations see the U.S. has not signed the Treaty and they begin to doubt its validity, the Treaty will be left very unstable and practically useless. A major fear that will end up to be the demise of the Treaty is that “every country will use [the defeat] as an excuse not to sign (Johnson). Because of Article 14 in the Treaty, an “Entry into Force” clause, without the signatures of everyone of the 44 international nuclear powers the Treaty cannot go into affect, and the world will remain a nuclear testing ground for those smaller less secure countries (“Hindu”).

Although there was some legitimate arguments that under the Treaty’s present form the U.S. will lose some of its international power, this should not have been enough to invalidate such an important Treaty. Even more so, with such detrimental backlash expected, the Treaty should have been treated with more care. The United States is defensively strong and secure. We can afford to let loose some slack to avoid more damaging aftermath.

If in the event that after we had signed the Treaty we found it to be threatening in any way to our stability as a nation, we had a back-out option. The Treaty allows for withdraw from the contract if a nations “supreme interest” is in anyway seen to be jeopardized (Marquis, Ridder A05). The only requirement of this action is six months notice before withdraw. In other words, no nation could use this clause to instantly refute the Treaty and resume testing when relations got heated, but with advanced notice we could get out of the Treaty if it were our best interests.

At the current time there is no need for powerful nuclear weapons because international relations are positive. The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would have created a stronger international summit, allowing for the downsizing of weaponry. Even in the event of a need for nuclear weapons our computer monitoring systems will have us up-to-date with testing. Also, on the future U.S. agenda for defense systems is the National Missile Defense system, which attempts to develop anti-missile missiles (“Consensus”). This system will be constructed despite the regulations in the 1972 Antiballistic Missile Treaty specifically to ensure that Americans are safe without the actual testing of nuclear weapons.

Even though we are taking all of these safety precautions so that we feel secure, “the Government employs a $4.5 billion annual program of computer models and non-nuclear explosive tests,” and with this technology available we have not had to test a weapon since 1992 (Schmitt A1, Tyson 1). In fact, the number of international nuclear tests has drastically decreased from 178 in 1963, to only 57 in the 1990’s combined (“Dangers”). If we haven’t tested a nuclear bomb in 7 years without added protections, why should we even need a security blanket? Nuclear weapons are not as readily tested and therefore the loss of underground testing would be no great impairment. There is an annual inspection each year of a prototype of each bomb to ensure that decay has not begun. This test is very thorough; it includes both electronics and nuclear components to make sure that our bombs will not backfire on us.

Critics, and even some proponents of the Treaty have trouble deciphering where it allows for monitoring and regulation of testing. It is true that in every document I have seen concerning the Treaty there has not been much mentioned of consequences for violators, yet there has always been a great deal of provisions for global nuclear monitoring. The treaty establishes an International Monitoring System called the Stockpile Stewardship Program, and an International Data Center with 337 worldwide facilities (Snowe G4). Many Republicans doubt that the U.S. Intelligence is powerful enough to detect all explosions, yet the United States uses many different devices to detect explosions. The most successful of our monitoring systems involve radionuclides, hydroacoustics, seismology or infrared (Marquis, Ridder A05).

If in the monitoring system an explosion is detected that violates the Treaty there is a process by which the explosion will be verified. This process involves an inspection of the premises on which the explosion took place after 29 of the 51 nuclear capable countries in the world have approved the inspection (Boschwitz 19A). If or when a country is found to have broken the Treaty’s guidelines, it will be in the hands of the United Nations to exercise its authority and to give a just repercussion.

Even with all of the precautions that are built into the Treaty, the Senate still elected to defeat the Treaty. When lines are drawn evenly between the two parties there is reason to believe that other motives were behind the defeat. You are aware that a 2/3rd majority is needed to ratify treaties in the Senate, and this Treaty was defeated by a vote of 51 to 48, not even close to the lines of ratification.

Most of the Treaty’s opponents in the Senate were Republican. Not straying far from previous votes, the parties were strictly separated, only 4 Republicans crossing over to vote with the Democrats to ratify the Treaty (Schmitt). This Treaty was, however, more important than a simple veto on a proposed budget, and it should have been treated so. It was the first treaty that held international importance since 1920 and the Treaty of Versailles, to not be ratified by the U.S. Senate (Schmitt). With this being said, consider the devastating aftermath of that decision by our Senate. World War II started shortly after the United States made the decision that consequentially turned its back on the international community. Our country is important to the success of international relations. To turn back to the same isolationist values that were implemented in 1920 will almost certainly cause problems in the future.

“The world will not be a safer place because the Republicans in the Senate voted against the Treaty” (Nagourney B5). Instead of working together with the Democrats to resolve their conflicts within the Treaty, it seemed as if they worked harder within their unit to defeat it. The Republicans could not put aside their differences with President Clinton that arose from recent turmoil, so “the Test-Ban Treaty was, in effect, a stand-in victim of impeachment” (Garthoff M2). Hillary Clinton has a strong feeling that the Republicans “played partisan politics at the expense of our national security” by defeating a treaty in order to maintain favorable party status (Nagourney). It is tragic that our Senate cannot pull together when things need to get done.

The politics that were involved in the defeat of this Treaty were “the worst kind of partisan politics…because it was so blatant, and because of the risks it poses to the safety of the American people and the world” (Macintyre). When eighty percent of the American public agrees that we should ratify the Treaty, it is evident that the Senators that were against this were not justly representing their public (Snowe G4). The twenty percent of our country that opposed this Treaty could not have been enough to defeat it, consider the mathematics. There are one hundred Senators, so in the way that the Treaty was defeated, fifty-one percent of the country should have been against it, that is if we are being accurately represented.

The U.S. Senate decided to use their power to crush the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty against President Clinton to strike at him in the only way they could. We, the American public were also cheated out of justice. The Republicans were just “determined to deny Mr. Clinton a victory in the final chapter of his presidency” (Macintyre). I will admit that our president has not made the smartest choices while in office, but these choices were for his personal life. The Senate’s Republicans took it upon themselves to make it a national ordeal. Even after President Clinton was found innocent of any political wrong, they felt it was their duty to make him feel guilty and to punish him the only way they could. This Treaty is not a game; fair and rational politics were put aside when the Senate voted against it.

The Senate may also have felt that they were not given the right amount of say in things. President Clinton signed the treaty in 1996, without first going to the Senate and introducing the Treaty to test if it would be ratified when the time came. The president does not have to consult with the Senate before signing treaties but in most cases it is safer to test out the reaction before it comes down to a deadline. As a direct result of a lack of communication, the Senate refused to postpone the Treaty or to give it its needed time on the floor. This postponement was feverishly asked of the Senate not only by the president, but also by Tony Blair of Great Britain, who actually sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott contesting the speedy action (Pine A1). Lott and the Minority Leader Tom Daschle worked towards and finally came to a compromise, but when handed to the rest of the Senate a small group of Republicans refused to compromise (Pine).

No matter how the Treaty was defeated, it was still defeated and things to occur now that will ensure that America is serious about nuclear disarmament. Now that the vote is over, Americans need to be concerned about what this will do to our country. We can examine the treaty, decide where it went wrong and try to amend it, or we could start over.

First, to make a better treaty, one has to decide how effective global limits can be made to nuclear weapons, being that those in the Treaty were rejected. This is already being formulated, although many politicians in favor of the Test Ban Treaty believe that because this Treaty was rejected by the United States the smaller countries of the world will not feel comfortable signing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which will be reviewed next year (Pine). Although this treaty is a separate entity of the Test Ban Treaty, it is proposed along the same lines.

Another way to possibly pass this treaty through the Senate is for President Clinton to re-submit it after amendments are made (Associated Press). At least two Republican Senators, Jon Kyl and James Inhofe, have already counted this solution out of the possibilities, saying, “it will not come up again, because the United States cannot unilaterally amend the treaty” (Associated Press). However, it is possible that with time the Treaty will become trustworthy after it has been in affect in other countries. When these countries are able to adequately protect their citizens with a non-nuclear Treaty in affect, hopefully America’s doubtful will reconsider. President Clinton will not be in office long enough to re-submit the Treaty, but the next president would be able to, without doubting our technology nor our security, return the Treaty to the Senate for another vote.

Knowing the poor relationship that President Clinton had with the Senate, one can only hope that in the future this will not occur once again. Presidents of the past, such as George Bush who was able to pass many successful weapons treaties in his presidency, have all worked with the Senate to come to an agreement that pleased both parties. If you look back to the terms of Reagan and Bush, you can see that Republicans do not hold anything against nuclear testing. During the twelve years that these men were in office treaties such as START II (which limited our nuclear weapons to only 3,500), and the Chemical Weapons Convention (which outlawed poisonous gases) were passed (Boschwitz 19A). These treaties are just as binding as the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty would have been; yet they were passed.

Your Senator and presidential candidate George Bush stated, “It depends on whether or not the next President can earn the trust of the Congress. It’s just a matter of relationships that need to be strong” (Berke and Seelye). On these lines the Senate seems to be very optimistic, in that two Senators, Republican Chuck Hagel and Democrat Joseph Lieberman, came together in a bipartisan effort in order to make it possible for a test ban treaty to eventually be passed through the Senate (Raum). Liebermann commented on their almost heroic effort saying, “We believe it is important to leave the door open to return a treaty to the Senate that can be passed” (Raum).

In response to the many consequences for the defeat of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the United States must work through their oppositions to compose a viable ban on nuclear weapons. “It is a sad and dangerous matter when U.S. security interests and a constructive role in the world become a political football” (Garthoff M2). It is important to national security, global security, and international relationships that The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty be ratified in the United States as well as across the globe. Americans, although maybe not directly affected by nuclear testing, are certainly indirectly affected by nuclear testing radiation, and the global processes that have begun to speed up as a consequence of increased radiation in the atmosphere. It is our duty to protect not only our country, but also the world in which it lies. America cannot exist without healthy international surroundings, and we certainly cannot exist if the world as a whole is overly contaminated by nuclear radiation.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

The Associated Press (1999, October 18). Albright: US Will Honor Nuke Treaty. Associated Press U.S. News 18 Oct. 1999. 19 Oct. 1999. .

The Associated Press (1999, October 14). Where Candidates Stand on Treaty. Associate Press U.S. News 14 Oct. 1999. 17 Oct. 1999.

Berke, Richard L. and Katherine Q. Seelye. “DEFEAT OF A TREATY: THE HOPEFULS; Treaty Ricochets Into Presidential Fray.” The New York Times 14 Oct. 1999, late ed., sec. A: 13+.

Boschwitz, Rudy. “CTBT Provisions Were Reasons Enough to Vote No.” Star Tribune 20 Oct. 1999, metro ed., sec. A: 19+.

Burt, Richard. “Fumble on the Test Ban Treaty.” The Washington Post 18 Oct. 1999, final ed., sec. A: 19+.

Garthoff, Raymond. “The World; Diplomacy; A Loss For the U.S. in World.” Los Angeles Times 31 Oct. 1999, home ed., sec. M: 2+.

“Is the CTBT Finished?” Editorial. The Hindu 13 Oct. 1999.

Johnson, Maureen (1999, October 15). Nations Upset by U.S. Treaty Vote. Associated Press U.S. News 15 Oct. 1999. 19 Oct. 1999.

Nuclear Power

Nuclear Power

To provide the power for a dynamo-electric machine, or electric generator, nuclear power plants rely on the process of nuclear fission. In this process, the nucleus of a heavy element, such as uranium, splits when bombarded by a free neutron in a nuclear reactor.(1) The fission process for uranium atoms yields two smaller atoms, one to three free neutrons, plus an amount of energy. Because more free neutrons are released from a uranium fission event than are required to initiate the event, the reaction can become self-sustaining–a chain reaction–under controlled conditions, thus producing a tremendous amount of energy.

In the vast majority of the world’s nuclear power plants, heat energy generated by burning uranium fuel is collected in ordinary water and is carried away from the reactor’s core either as steam in boiling water reactors or as superheated water in pressurized-water reactors. In a pressurized-water reactor, the superheated water in the primary cooling loop is used to transfer heat energy to a secondary loop for the creation of steam. In either a boiling-water or pressurized-water installation, steam under high pressure is the medium used to transfer the nuclear reactor’s heat energy to a turbine that mechanically turns a dynamo- electric machine, or electric generator. Boiling-water and pressurized-water reactors are called light-water reactors, because they utilize ordinary water to transfer the heat energy from reactor to turbine in the electricity generation process. In other reactor designs, the heat energy is transferred by pressurized heavy water, gas, or another cooling substance.

Because the water used to remove heat from the core in a light-water reactor absorbs some of the free neutrons normally generated during operation of the reactor, the concentration of the naturally fissionable 235U isotope in uranium used to fuel light-water reactors must be increased above the level of natural uranium to assist in sustaining the nuclear chain reaction in the reactor core: the remainder of the uranium in the fuel is 238U. Increasing the concentration of 235U in nuclear fuel uranium above the level that occurs in natural uranium is accomplished through the process of enrichment, which is explained below.

The fuel core for a light-water nuclear power reactor can have up to 3,000 fuel assemblies. An assembly consists of a group of sealed fuel rods, each filled with UO2 pellets, held in place by end plates and supported by metal spacer-grids to brace the rods and maintain the proper distances between them. The fuel core can be thought of as a reservoir from which heat energy can be extracted through the nuclear chain reaction process. During the operation of the reactor, the concentration of 235U in the fuel is decreased as those atoms undergo nuclear fission to create heat energy. Some 238U atoms are converted to atoms of fissile 239Pu, some of which will, in turn, undergo fission and produce energy. The products created by the nuclear fission reactions are retained within the fuel pellets and these become neutron-absorbing products (called “poisons”) that act to slow the rate of nuclear fission and heat production. As the reactor operation is continued, a point is reached at which the declining concentration of fissile nuclei in the fuel and the increasing concentration of poisons result in lower than optimal heat energy generation, and the reactor must be shut down temporarily and refueled.

The amount of energy in the reservoir of nuclear fuel is frequently expressed in terms of “full-power days,” which is the number of 24-hour periods (days) a reactor is scheduled for operation at full power output for the generation of heat energy. The number of full power days in a reactor’s operating cycle (between refueling outage times) is related to the amount of fissile 235U contained in the fuel assemblies at the beginning of the cycle. A higher percentage of 235U in the core at the beginning of a cycle will permit the reactor to be run for a greater number of full power days.

At the end of the operating cycle, the fuel in some of the assemblies is “spent,” and it is discharged and replaced with new (fresh) fuel assemblies. The fraction of the reactor’s fuel core replaced during refueling is typically one-fourth for a boiling-water reactor and one-third for a pressurized-water reactor.

The amount of energy extracted from nuclear fuel is called its “burn up,” which is expressed in terms of the heat energy produced per initial unit of fuel weight. Burn up is commonly expressed as megawatt days thermal per metric ton of initial heavy metal.

The nuclear fuel cycle for typical light-water reactors is illustrated in Figure A1. The cycle consists of “front end” steps that lead to the preparation of uranium for use as fuel for reactor operation and “back end” steps that are necessary to safely manage, prepare, and dispose of the highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel. Chemical processing of the spent fuel material to recover the remaining fractions of fissionable products, 235U and 239Pu, for use in fresh fuel assemblies is technically feasible. Reprocessing of spent commercial-reactor nuclear fuel is not permitted in the United States. The front end of the nuclear fuel cycle commonly is separated into the following steps.

Exploration. A deposit of uranium, discovered by geophysical techniques, is evaluated and sampled to determine the amounts of uranium materials that are extractable at specified costs from the deposit. Uranium reserves are the amounts of ore that are estimated to be recoverable at stated costs.

Mining. Uranium ore can be extracted through conventional mining in open pit and underground methods similar to those used for mining other metals. In situ leach mining methods also are used to mine uranium in the United States. In this technology, uranium is leached from the in-place ore through an array of regularly spaced wells and is then recovered from the leach solution at a surface plant. Uranium ores in the United States typically range from about 0.05 to 0.3 percent uranium oxide (U3O8). Some uranium deposits developed in other countries are of higher grade and are also larger than deposits mined in the United States. Uranium is also present in very low grade amounts (50 to 200 parts per million) in some domestic phosphate-bearing deposits of marine origin. Because very large quantities of phosphate-bearing rock are mined for the production of wet-process phosphoric acid used in high analysis fertilizers and other phosphate chemicals, at some phosphate processing plants the uranium, although present in very low concentrations, can be economically recovered from the process stream.

Milling. Mined uranium ores normally are processed by grinding the ore materials to a uniform particle size and then treating the ore to extract the uranium by chemical leaching. The milling process commonly yields dry powder-form material consisting of natural uranium, “yellowcake,” which is sold on the uranium market as U3O8.

Uranium conversion. Milled uranium oxide, U3O8, must be converted to uranium hexafluoride, UF6, which is the form required by most commercial uranium enrichment facilities currently in use. A solid at room temperature, UF6 can be changed to a gaseous form at moderately higher temperatures. The UF6 conversion product contains only natural, not enriched, uranium.

Enrichment. The concentration of the fissionable isotope, 235U (0.71 percent in natural uranium) is less than that required to sustain a nuclear chain reaction in light water reactor cores. Natural UF6 thus must be “enriched” in the fissionable isotope for it to be used as nuclear fuel. The different levels of enrichment required for a particular nuclear fuel application are specified by the customer: light-water reactor fuel normally is enriched up to about 4 percent 235U, but uranium enriched to lower concentrations also is required. Gaseous diffusion and gas centrifuge are the commonly used uranium enrichment technologies. The gaseous diffusion process consists of passing the natural UF6 gas feed under high pressure through a series of diffusion barriers (semiporous membranes) that permit passage of the lighter 235UF6 atoms at a faster rate than the heavier 238UF6 atoms. This differential treatment, applied across a large number of diffusion “stages,” progressively raises the product stream concentration of 235U relative to 238U. In the gaseous diffusion technology, the separation achieved per diffusion stage is relatively low, and a large number of stages is required to achieve the desired level of isotope enrichment. Because this technology requires a large capital outlay for facilities and it consumes large amounts of electrical energy, it is relatively cost intensive. In the gas centrifuge process, the natural UF6 gas is spun at high speed in a series of cylinders. This acts to separate the 235UF6 and 238UF6 atoms based on their slightly different atomic masses. Gas centrifuge technology involves relatively high capital costs for the specialized equipment required, but its power costs are below those for the gaseous diffusion technology. New enrichment technologies currently being developed are the atomic vapor laser isotope separation (AVLIS) and the molecular laser isotope separation (MLIS). Each laser-based enrichment process can achieve higher initial enrichment (isotope separation) factors than the diffusion or centrifuge processes can achieve. Both AVLIS and MLIS will be capable of operating at high material throughput rates.

Fabrication. For use as nuclear fuel, enriched UF6 is converted into uranium dioxide (UO2) powder which is then processed into pellet form. The pellets are then fired in a high temperature sintering furnace to create hard, ceramic pellets of enriched uranium. The cylindrical pellets then undergo a grinding process to achieve a uniform pellet size. The pellets are stacked, according to each nuclear core’s design specifications, into tubes of corrosion-resistant metal alloy. The tubes are sealed to contain the fuel pellets: these tubes are called fuel rods. The finished fuel rods are grouped in special fuel assemblies that are then used to build up the nuclear fuel core of a power reactor.

The back end of the cycle is divided into the following steps:

Interim Storage. After its operating cycle, the reactor is shut down for refueling. The fuel discharged at that time (spent fuel) is stored either at the reactor site or, potentially, in a common facility away from reactor sites. If on-site pool storage capacity is exceeded, it may be desirable to store aged fuel in modular dry storage facilities known as Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installations (ISFSI) at the reactor site or at a facility away from the site. The spent fuel rods are usually stored in water, which provides both cooling (the spent fuel continues to generate heat as a result of residual radioactive decay) and shielding (to protect the environment from residual ionizing radiation).

Reprocessing. Spent fuel discharged from light-water reactors contains appreciable quantities of fissile (U-235, Pu-239), fertile (U-238), and other radioactive materials. These fissile and fertile materials can be chemically separated and recovered from the spent fuel. The recovered uranium and plutonium can, if economic and institutional conditions permit, be recycled for use as nuclear fuel. Currently, plants in Europe are reprocessing spent fuel from utilities in Europe and Japan.

Waste Disposal. A current concern in the nuclear power field is the safe disposal and isolation of either spent fuel from reactors or, if the reprocessing option is used, wastes from reprocessing plants. These materials must be isolated from the biosphere until the radioactivity contained in them has diminished to a safe level. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, as amended, the Department of Energy has responsibility for the development of the waste disposal system for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. Current plans call for the ultimate disposal of the wastes in solid form in licensed deep, stable geologic structures.

Bibliography:

Nuclear Power Uses

Nuclear Power Uses

Is nuclear energy clean energy? Are its benefits greater than its risks? One of the basic characteristics of our “modern” societies is the usage of various products/goods/services that are involved to our lives.

We can think hundreds of such goods that were not used before and we are using them today in order to satisfy our wants and to meet our needs: from walkman to cars, from computers to bank machines. Of course, there are thousands of businesses and manufacturers that supply all these products/services and they all require energy to work.

Can we imagine our “modern” world without electricity? Can we imagine it, without the kind of energy that produces electricity? Purpose of this text is to examine one basic source of energy-nuclear energy. This text will discuss advantages and disadvantages of nuclear power.

We will examine the basic points about nuclear energy and we will compare them to the usage of other energy sources. But, what do we mean by nuclear energy?

Nuclear energy refers to the energy that we can obtain if we split atoms. Atoms have neutrons, protons (both in nucleus) and electrons (around nucleus). If nucleus breaks up, huge amount of energy is released. This procedure is called fission.

The energy is explained by the difference of mass between fission products and reactants. The energy and the heat that are produced can be used to produce electricity. The whole issue was under consideration from the beginning of the 20th century but the greatest physician; Albert Einstein explored the usage by giving enough details. Later on, the impact of nuclear energy was understandable in order to give a great energy source and —unfortunately- the absolute lethal weapon.

The World War 2 and the Hiroshima-Nagasaki bombs proved the consequences of nuclear power as a war “tool”. One important thing that we must mention is that the products of a nuclear explosion (as a bomb or as an accident) have the ability to “keep” their radioactivity for a period of time. That means that the consequences will not stop, but they will affect peoples and environment for a long time.

Most of the world’s electricity is generated by either thermal or hydroelectric power plants. Thermal power plants use fuel to boil water which makes steam. The steam turns turbines that generate electricity. Hydroelectric power plants use the great force of rushing water from a dam or a waterfall to turn the turbines.

The majority of thermal power plants burn fossil fuels because thermal power plants are cheaper to maintain and have to meet less of the governments requirements compared to nuclear power plants. Fossil fuels are coal and oil. The downfall of using fossil fuels is that they are limited. Fossil fuels are developed from the remains of plants and animals that died millions of years ago. Burning fossil fuels has other downfalls, too. All the burning that is required to turn the turbines releases a lot of sulfur, nitrogen gases, and other pollutants into the atmosphere.

Nuclear power plants generate only about eleven percent of the world’s electricity. There are around 316 nuclear power plants in the world that creates 213,000 megawatts of electricity. (INFOPEDIA) Radioactive, or nuclear, waste is the by-product of nuclear fission. Fission occurs when atoms’ nucleus’ split and cause a nuclear reaction.

When a free neutron splits a nucleus, energy is released along with free neutrons, fission fragments that give off beta rays, and gamma rays. A free neutron from the nucleus that just split splits another nucleus. This process continues on and is called a chain reaction. (World Book vol. 14, 588)

Nowadays, we are using all the above ways to produce energy and scientists are trying to improve their applications in order to achieve the maximum benefits and to reduce the financial/environmental cost(s). The amount of energy differs from each method, as well, as the dangers for people and environment. Nuclear energy is a great source but it has many “traps” and dangers.

In a nuclear power plant, Uranium is used as fuel to boil the water for the steam that makes the turbines turn. So, uranium is, in a sense, the coal of a coal-fired power plant. When fueling nuclear power plants, the uranium arrives as uranium-enriched pellets. These pellets are an equivalent to one ton of coal. The pellets are sealed in tubes that are made of a strong heat-and corrosion-resistant metal alloy. This metal alloy will protect people and the environment from the high levels of radiation that the uranium is giving off.

The tubes are bundled together to make a fuel assembly. The assemblies are put inside the reactor to create heat that will boil the water. The fuel assemblies are used until they are depleted and sent to a repository.

A repository is a storage facility that stores high-level nuclear waste deep underground so the waste cannot harm or effect people or the environment. (DOE’s Yucca Mountain Studies) With the technology that we [humankind] have today, scientists believe it to be possible to make a repository somewhere. The guidelines of a repository are mainly if the geologic location will work out (i.e. will an earthquake be able to rupture it, will water be able to corrode the repositories outer wall.).

To make sure that the repository would be able to stay unharmed for thousands of years, scientists in all areas of science are making predictions of what could happen over the time period. According to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards, a repository may pose no greater threat than un-mined uranium from which the high-level waste was produced.

The repository the EPA wants to make has to be proven that it will still be isolated underground in 10,000. After this extensive time, the high-level waste should no longer be radioactive enough to harm the public health.

Can we refer to nuclear energy as a clean source? To answer this we must examine both advantages and disadvantages of the usage and to refer to some events that indicated various outcomes.

THE “CLEAN” SIDE… By using nuclear power we can avoid some others source that can cause serious pollution. For example, we can produce electricity without any kind of burning fuel. Burning fuels would create serious damages to environment.

We all know the color of the sky in various places where factories burn such products for their manufacturing activities. Probably the two cleanest sources of electricity are hydropower and nuclear energy. Similar, we can talk about the effects and the pollution that caused by using various energy sources.

One of the most basic pollutants is Carbon Dioxide. Carbon Dioxide (CO2) causes serious damages to our environment. It has the ability to not let the heat (from sun) to escape from atmosphere. So, the heat is trapped into earth causing various effects to the physical balance (climate problems, green house phenomena).

Nuclear energy replaced other sources that produce Carbon Dioxide and prevent a higher CO2 level to our atmosphere. Another sources of pollution are Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) and Sulfur Dioxide (SO2). Both of these chemicals cause serious problems to our health. They are in part, produced by burning fossil fuels. It is logical to assume that if we use nuclear energy we will pollute our environment less.

In USA, nuclear plants have displaced about 82.000.000 SO2 tons between 1973-1997. Without the usage of nuclear energy, there is estimation that the level of Carbon Dioxide (CO2) would be fifty percent more. Nuclear energy could reduce Carbon Dioxide by 155.000.000 metric tons. In addition, the level of Nitrogen Oxide (NOx)-again in USA- could be 37.500.000 tons less. In 1996, electricity sources were replaced (fossil fuels to nuclear energy) causing a decrease of 16.000.000 tons of Sulfur Dioxide. Generally, between 1973 and 1996 the amount of Sulfur Dioxide reduced was 219.000.000 tons —worldwide. From all the above, it is easily understandable that there are advantages by using nuclear energy, comparing to other sources. Of course, this does not-automatically- mean that nuclear energy is characterized as clean as others are not.

Unfortunately many people lost their lives from accidents and bombs that utilized nuclear power. In the Second World War nuclear power was harness into an atomic bomb. This was used as a weapon of mass destruction. Hiroshima and Nagasaki are towns that were all but wiped out due to technology dropped by our country.

On April 25th -26th, 1986 the World’s worst nuclear power accident occurred at Chernobyl in the former USSR (now Ukraine). The Chernobyl nuclear power plant located 80 miles north of Kiev had 4 reactors. While testing reactor number 4 numerous safety procedures were disregarded. At 1:23am the chain reaction in the reactor became out of control creating explosions and a fireball which blew off the reactor’s heavy steel and concrete lid.

The Chernobyl accident killed more than 30 people immediately, and as a result of the high radiation levels in the surrounding 20-mile radius, 13,500 people had to be evacuated.

The consequences of such incidents/ accidents were (and many times, are) still faced from citizens and environment because of the abilities of radioactive elements through time. Thus, how can we describe this type of energy “clean”?

Nuclear energy was, is and will be a very powerful form of energy. Actually it is the most powerful- and has many dangers for our health, for the environment and for every type of life into the planet.

The effect of radiation can be fatal and can cause serious damages. First of all, an exposure to high level radiation will cause death, as many functions of our body will stop (molecules in our body will be ionized). In addition, higher percentages in the possibility of cancer and leukemia for people that are in contact with radiation (for example a worker in a nuclear station has more possibilities of exposure in radiation than others).

A rem is a unit scientist use to measure radiation exposure. Over a person’s lifetime, they usually receive 7-14 rems of natural sources of radiation, such as cosmic rays and ultraviolet rays from the sun. On a single exposure of 5-75 rems, there are few to no noticeable symptoms.

For someone to receive 75-200 rems of exposure, vomiting, fatigue, and loss of appetite would occur. Recovery would take a few weeks. If someone were to be exposed to more than 300 rems, severe changes in blood cells and hemorrhage takes place. If someone were to receive more than 600 rems, symptoms would be hair loss, loss in your body’s ability to fight infection and usually results in death. (World Book vol. 16, 79)

The effects of radiation sickness is not too pleasant. The main reason for building a repository is to keep people and the environment safe from deadly radiation.

The workers of our countries 104 nuclear plants are among at most risk for radiation exposure. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, a federally governed organization, regulates the allowed limit for occupational radiation workers. The average amount for workers is .65 Rem per year. The federal limit of radiation for plant workers is 5 rems per year. This is measured by total of external whole body dose and internal dose. Eye exposure to radiation is also closely monitored. The NRC limit for eye exposure is 15 rems per year.

Nuclear power is also used in our nation’s defense. Submarines and aircraft carriers use nuclear power to generate enough power to propel the enormous vessels.

Nuclear power has a lot of advantages over other forms of energy production. There are some negative effects such as health risks, environmental risks, misuses in weapons, and the threat of total destruction. If nuclear power is closely regulated and used properly, it can serve as a useful and “clean” source of energy that will send this country into a cleaner, safer future.

Bibliography:

Nuclear Energy

Nuclear Energy

During the early stages of nuclear power there were many accidents that resulted in several people’s deaths and the destruction of millions of dollars of property. The accidents at Chernobyl which killed over 30 people and the incident at Three Mile Island are just a few of the catastrophes that occurred. How could something like energy be more important than the lives of innocent people? The race to perfect nuclear power continued and although many countries rely on nuclear power to operate effectively, it does not mean that nuclear power plants are without faults. They have numerous flaws in design and are not only producing power but harmful radiation as well.

Opponents of nuclear power argue that the waste that is produced is harmful and can persist for thousands of years. Today, thousands of tons of radioactive nuclear waste are constantly being moved through several states (Arnold). Robert K. Musil, PSR Executive Director, stated, ?Even one severe accident in this transporting of nuclear waste would cause up to 18,000 latent cancer deaths and cost over ten billion dollars to clean up?(Arnold). Not only is transportation of nuclear waste a problem but there are also decisions being made on where to store it. Currently, there are plans to dump waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Although the waste would be buried deep underground, the site is only ninety miles from Las Vegas (Arnold). Many people are afraid that if the waste is dumped at the site it may leak into underground water sources. If this were to occur, the results would be disastrous. Contact with nuclear waste can cause cancer and genetic mutations? (Clearfield). The harmful waste that is produced during nuclear fission is almost unmanageable and can be very dangerous if not contained.

Nevertheless, nuclear waste can become less harmful than the waste produced in other power production methods. Direct contact with nuclear waste can cause cancer, but so can breathing smoke from the burning of coal and oil. The waste can also be easily contained in many areas. Canada is looking into proposed plans to store nuclear waste in the Pre-Cambrian Canadian Shield? (McCarthy). There are also many other places that are uninhabitable to humans that are suitable for dumping the waste, such as Antarctica.

Over time the nuclear waste can lose its radioactivity which makes it less dangerous. After only ten years the waste becomes 1,000 times less radioactive, and after 500 years the fission products will be less radioactive than the uranium ore they were originally taken from (McCarthy). The waste is also not as abundant as would seem. Each year the UK produces 40 million cubic meters of industrial waste compared to 20 thousand cubic meters of nuclear waste? (Collum). The waste can also be reprocessed. During the reprocessing of nuclear waste, the plutonium created during nuclear fusion, which can also be used in nuclear reactors, is separated from the waste which leaves only three percent of the original waste left (Collum). Through these processes the containment and storage of nuclear waste can be done safely and efficiently.

Many critics say nuclear power plants are easy targets for terrorist attacks. If a nuclear power plant was bombed, the fallout from the explosion would contribute to the incidence of cancer all over the world (McCarthy). There is also the issue of waste being used to create weapons. The plutonium in nuclear waste could be extracted and used in nuclear weapons. The RBMK reactors built by the Russians were designed to operate as reactors and suppliers of plutonium for weapons (Keeny). This fault in design is the main reason that the plants failed to operate successfully. With so many countries on the brink of war, nuclear proliferation could become a real threat. If countries that support terrorist groups were able to build their own nuclear power plants, the terrorist would have access to a supply of plutonium, which would allow them to create deadly weapons. The dangers that nuclear power plants create may far outweigh any benefits that they might have.

However, nuclear plants are more than likely not viable targets for terrorist. The plants are built very securely and even if they were attacked most of the radiation would not be spread (McCarthy). Also, the waste that comes from the production of nuclear energy is not suitable for making weapons. Using the plutonium from nuclear waste in weapons would result in a bomb that not only would be unstable but also one that would be complex and difficult to maintain (Rossin). Nuclear plants are not needed to create nuclear weapons. Every country that has tried to make a bomb has succeeded, and none of them used nuclear waste (McCarthy). Nuclear power plants are not targets for terrorist, and in no way contribute to the threat of nuclear proliferation.

Critics argue that power plants are also costly. The plants are so expensive that most countries cannot afford to build them. The plants also take a long time to build and are require skilled technicians to operate them. Adding to the costs, the plants also require a high amount of security. If the plants are not constantly maintained the problem could cause an accident, or result in the shutting down of a plant. In order to open the storage facilities in Yucca Mountain on schedule, it will cost an additional 58 billion dollars (Arnold). The solid bars of waste that will be stored in this site are a few cubic meters in volume and will cost about one million dollars each (Hagen). With all plants in the U.S. being maintained by the government, the costs of the plants adds greatly to the taxes that the average citizen has to pay (Hagen).

However, the total cost of nuclear energy is actually less than other sources of power. The current price of uranium is 50 dollars per pound (McCarthy). Since the cost of uranium ore is only 0.04 cents per kilowatt-hour, even large increases in ore are affordable without increasing the cost of nuclear generated electricity significantly? (Cohen). The energy invested in building a plant is paid back in five months (McCarthy). The basic fact about nuclear energy is that the input energy is 4.8 percent of the output energy? (McCarthy). Although the facilities to store the waste are expensive, producing the waste in glass form is not. Even if the bars of waste do cost one million dollars each, an average household of four people only uses enough energy in a year to produce an amount of waste equal to ?the size of a cigarette lighter? (Cohen).

Some people believe that nuclear power plants are dangerous. The radiation that occurs during the process of nuclear fission can cause different types of cancer, and lead to death. In the Chernobyl accident, over 30 people were killed in the explosion caused by the overheating of the plant (McCarthy). The blast also made about 20 square miles of land uninhabitable for a long time. An accident like the one of Chernobyl might happen again today. When the reactor began to overheat at Chernobyl there was nothing that could have been done because the whole process lasted only a few seconds before exploding (Cohen). If a plant were to blow up it could cause thousands of deaths and spread deadly radioactive particles through the entire atmosphere.

Actually, nuclear power plants today are very safe. The amounts of radiation that are released are insignificant. The protective walls of concrete keep the workers in the plants safe. The amount of radiation that someone would receive at a nuclear power plant is less than the amount that he would get daily from the sun (McCarthy). With today’s technology a nuclear plant would not blow up. The reactors used today are opposite the ones used at Chernobyl in that the reactions slow down when water used to cool the rods begins to boil. The ones at Chernobyl sped up the reaction which is what caused the immense heat and quick buildup of pressure (McCarthy). Considering that cave-ins of coal mines have killed hundreds, the accident at Chernobyl was a rather small disaster.

One of the best reasons to use nuclear power is that there is an abundance of fuel. Compared to coal and oil powered plants, nuclear plants use significantly less amounts of fuel. The small bits of uranium found in coal would make more power in a nuclear plant than burning the coal itself (Cohen). Uranium is very abundant and serves no other purpose than to be used in nuclear power plants. If the Earth’s supply of Uranium is ever depleted, Thorium can be used in the plants. Although it is less effective than Uranium, Thorium is three times as abundant. Also, the spent fuel can be reprocessed into new fuel. Again, the plutonium produced is less effective than the Uranium, but it is a good way to recycle if there is a great need.

Not only is nuclear power easily fueled but it is also the most reliable of power sources. Unlike hydroelectric plants, which have to be built on a water source, nuclear power plants can be built anywhere. Other sources of power such as solar power and wind power are too expensive and unreliable. Solar panels will probably never be a major source of power because of the high cost it takes to produce them. There are only a few places in the world that wind could even be considered as a source of power, because of its unpredictability. Besides Uranium and Plutonium, another source of nuclear power is Hydrogen. This gas is one of the most abundant elements in the world and is the main element used in nuclear fusion.

Nuclear fusion could supply countries with almost endless amounts of energy. Fuels for nuclear fusion are very abundant. Fusion requires using isotopes of Hydrogen and Tritium. Tritium is rarely found in nature because it is radioactive and has a short half-life, but it can be produced from lithium, one of the most abundant metals in the earth’s crust (Murari). There is no waste produced in nuclear fusion. When the two atoms are combined in nuclear fusion the only product created is helium (Murari). After the fusion occurs the radiation that affects the surrounding area declines rapidly because of the less radioactive sources that are used (Murari). Although nuclear fusion is only in the early stages of development it could one day become the only source of power needed to supply the entire world with energy.

In conclusion, nuclear energy is a valuable source that should be used in today’s society. Not only is it safe and reliable, but the benefits far outweigh the few drawbacks. What little waste that is produced can easily be contained, the plants are under no threats, and the energy that the plants produce is needed for many large countries in the world to function. Without nuclear energy there would be more pollution caused by the burning of fossil fuels, more blackouts like the one in North Eastern United States recently, and also a greater economic struggle to obtain fuels for power. The production of nuclear power through nuclear fission and fusion should be continued because of the benefits that it offers to society.

Bibliography:

Works Cited

Arnold, Ed. Dangers of Nuclear Waste Transport. 3 July 2003. U.S. Newswire. 29 Sept. 2003 http://usnewswire.com/topnews/first/07030129.html.

Clearfield, Abraham. Nuclear Relapse. 17 Aug. 2001. NIRS. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www.nirs.org/nuclearrelapse/toptenreasons.htm

Cohen, Jameson. Pro Nuclear. 9 June 1998. UIUC. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www2.uiuc.edu/ro/er/dec2002/pronuclear.html

Collum, Hugh. 20 Feb. 2000. BNFL. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www.bnfl.com/website.nsf/s2/7F65C8EA0C84538280256B9E0065AF56?OpenDocument

Ronald, Hagen. Nuclear Analysis. 1 Dec. 2002. EIA. 29 Sept. 2003. http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/analysis/anasum2.html

Keeny, Spurgeon. Plutonium Reprocessing. 22 Sept. 1998. Frontline. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/keeny.html

McCarthy, John. FAQs about Nuclear Energy. 11 March 2002. Stanford University. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www-formal.stanford.edu/jmc/progress/nuclear-faq.html

Murari, Andrea. Fusion Energy. 8 April 2003. Jet. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www.jet.efda.org/

Rossin, David. Spent Fuel Reprocessing. 31 March 1998. Frontline. 29 Sept. 2003 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/reaction/readings/rossin.html

Normative Ethics

Normative Ethics

In the short story, The German Refugee, the narrator and a German refugee, Oscar, develop a unique friendship. The narrator, a poor senior in college, tutors immigrants in the English language to make some extra money due to the poor economy after the Great Depression. His student Oscar is much like his other students, an educated refugee, however Oscar is quite a challenge for the tutor. Oscar came to America as a lecturer. However, “the thought of giving the lecture in English just about paralyzed him (Malamud 440).” Oscar had left his wife and was troubled with depression from his life changes. As they performed the English lessons, step by step a friendship emerged, and even though Oscar had given up on the lessons, the narrator still visited Oscar trying to help him right his lecture.

Eventually, Oscar began to confide in the young American, and told him he had once tried to commit suicide during his first week in America. The narrator shows kindness and compassion, still trying to help Oscar write and translate his lecture. However, they never get past the first page. Instead of writing the lecture on every visit, the two both sit in silence in the heat of his apartment. “It was sticky, hot July and the heat didn’t help at all (Malamud 442).” The narrator then decides to buy a second hand fan for Oscar. An action that however minute is the right action to perform. Although the fan only last a week, the narrator’s action of kindness is good, by three normative ethicist, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, and John Stewart Mills, this small action performed can be shown to be the right action.

The moral normative theory, Subjectivism, from Hume’s philosophy examines the moral pleasure the narrator receives by doing this action. Subjectivism states that an action is the right action for an agent if and only if the agent when performing this action gains moral pleasure from it, or as Hume would say, “An action, or sentiment or character, is virtuous or vicious; why? because its view causes a pleasure or uneasiness of a particular kind… The very feeling constitutes our praise or admiration (Hume 44).” To understand this normative status, the definition of moral pleasure must be described. Moral pleasure is not the same as mere pleasurable feelings. However, it is the feeling of morally wrong or morally right within each person. This is what makes subjectivism subjective, different for different people. Thus, an action is not necessarily wrong just because the action may seem morally wrong to some one else. Second in Subjectivism, Hume is concerned with actions, but the definition of the kind of actions is important. Hume does not mean all actions. He divides actions into three categories: actions that are morally right, actions that are morally wrong, and actions that are morally neutral. These divisions are also subjective to each individual, because each individual will evaluate each action differently. Lying in a particular instance may be morally neutral to one person. It may be morally wrong to another, and it may be morally right to yet another person.

To apply Hume’s Subjectivism to the short story, the action must be defined. For this normative theory and all the theories, the action is buying the second hand fan and giving it to Oscar. It is easily seen that this action brought moral pleasure to the narrator. He has done a simple selflishless act for the depressed immigrant. Thus by the definition of subjectivism, the action was the right action to have performed.

The second moral normative theory is the Categorical Imperative by the philosopher Kant. The categorical imperative has three formulations, but for determining whether the narrator performed the right action, I will use the first formulation. “Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will that it should become a universal law (Kant 38).” In a more scientific wording, the first formulation of the categorical imperative states that an action is morally right if and only if the generalized maxim of the action could be willed to be a universal law of nature.

This definition requires many terms to be more clearly defined. First, the word maxim is “a subjective principle of volition” or in other words how an individual is going to act in a their situation (Kant 17). Maxims are usually stated; whenever I am tired, I shall sleep. However for the purpose of the Categorical Imperative, maxims must be generalized applying to all. So whenever I am tired, I shall sleep, becomes whenever anyone is tired, he or she shall sleep. The maxims are used by Kant to describe how an individual acts in their situation, and the generalized maxims are used show how all people should act in the situation. Next, the word imperative means a command. However, there are two types of imperatives. The hypothetical imperative like if you want an A on your paper, then work for hours writing it. Then, the categorical imperatives that state do something. The hypothetical is subjective, different for different people, and changes over time. For instance, not everyone has to work for hours to get an A, and over time maybe there will be no more grades. Categorical imperatives are necessary and universal. Categorical imperatives like keep your promises will always exist for all time making them necessary, and apply to everyone making them universal. Next, the concept of willing must be elaborated on. Willing something means to think of something in such a way that thinking it makes it the case, or thinking it brings that state of affairs about. In the categorical imperative the agent is willing the generalized maxim and there are two conditions that the maxim must have for the person to be able to will it. These to principles of willings are that they must be consistent (both internally consistent and with all other willings), and the willings must be rational (what a rational agent would will). Finally, the last statement in the first formulation of the Categorical Imperative, a universal law of nature is defined as a universal statement about how everything must be. For a universal law of nature to be true, it must meet the two conditions of willing.

Now that the Categorical Imperative has been completely defined it can be used to evaluate the action, buying a second hand fan for Oscar. The first a maxim must be formulated from the action. In this case the maxim is when ever the narrator feels the need to cheer up his friend Oscar and his apartment is very hot, he should buy a second hand fan for Oscar. Then, the maxim must be generalized. The generalized maxim is whenever anyone feels the need to cheer up his or her friend and his or her friend’s apartment is very hot, he or she should buy a second hand fan for his or her friend. This generalized maxim must then be willed, meeting the two conditions on willing. It is consistent, but to prove the maximums consistency, it is best to look at why it is not inconsistent. If it is inconsistent it contradicts with its self like if it had been whenever anyone is down I will make him or her feel worse about his or her self in order to realize it was not so bad before. It would be obviously inconsistent, but there is no obvious contradiction like such in the narrator’s maxim. The second part of consistency is that the willing must be consistent with all other willings. This maxim is consistent with all other willings because the narrator only wills to help not harm Oscar. Second, the maxim is rational for a rational agent would will. Giving a simple gift to his sad and hot friend to cheer him up has no irrational consequences and only benefits the nariator. So the action is the morally right action to perform by Kant’s first formulation of the Categorical Imperative, because the generalized maxim of the action can be willed to be a universal law of nature.

The last moral normative theory is Utilitarianism by John Stewart Mill. Utilitarianism is teleological moral normative theory because it deals with the amount of pleasure or pain that occurs after the action is performed. As Mill states, “Actions are right in portion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness (Mill, 7).” Utilitarianism in other words is that an action is morally right if and only if it maximizes utility. In Utilitarianism, Mill is mainly concerned with the amount of happiness, “By happiness is intended pleasure and the absence of pain; by unhappiness, pain and the privation of pleasures a consequence of an action (Mill 7).” By the amount of pleasure he means the total amount of pleasure of everyone that is effected by each action. He uses the term hedonic value of an action if the action is performed to describe the amount of pleasure that occurs from this action, and the term doloric value of an action if the action is performed to describe the amount of pain that occurs from this action. Hedonic values are represent by a positive number, and a negative number represents doloric values. The utility of an action is defined, as the total amount of pleasure an action would produce if performed plus the total amount of pain an action would produce if performed. With the utility, the person wants the maximized utility. In utilitarianism a person must consider all actions. Thus, there is always an alternative action. Action two, that is an alternative of action one, meaning action two is another act that the agent who could perform action one could perform at the same time as action one instead of action one. Basically, there is more than one action in utilitarianism and the person must choose the action that when the pleasure and pain is added together has the greatest numerical value.

For example the action of buying the second hand fan for Oscar can best be shown in this chart.?The hedonic value for buying the fan for Oscar is about a 45. “He sat in the breeze for hours each day until after a week, shortly after the Soviet-Nazi nonaggression pact was signed, the motor gave out.” Though the fan only lasted a week during this time the fan was used by Oscar, the narrator felt pleasure for unselfishly giving, and the hedonic value of pleasure for each person was about 20. However, that is not the only hedonic value for buying this fan. The person he bought it from gains some happiness with a value at 5. Though, with this action also comes a doloric value of -5, because the motor gave out after only a week. Oscar probably missed the fan when it was gone. So the total utility of this action is a positive 40. Although the narrator could of chosen another action. He could of chosen to do nothing. In this instance the hedonic value would be 0. Though th!

e doloric value might be -10 from the guilt the narrator may have felt knowing the heat Oscar had to endear. The total utility of the second action is negative 10. Utilitarianism requires that in order to determine the right action a person must calculate all possible actions. However for this paper, these two actions give a good example of utility and by these two examples, even though these are not all the possibilities that exists, then the narrator has performed the maximized utility,the right action.

The narrator has by all three normative theories performed a right action. By Hume’s subjectivism, the narrator performed the right action because it brought him moral pleasure. By Kant’s first formulation of the categorical imperative, the narrator performed the right action because it formed a willable generalized maxim for the Universal law of nature. Then finally by John Stewarts Mill’s Utilitarianism, the narrator performed the right action because it maximized the utility.

Bibliography:

Hume, David. Moral and Political Philosophy. Aiken Henry. New York: Hapner Press, 1948.

Kant, Immanuel. Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, Second ed. White beck, Lewis. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1995.

Malamud, Bernard. The German Refugee. The Best American Short Stories, ed John Updike, Hajhtan: Mifflin Company, 1999.

Mill, John Stewart. Utilitarianism. Sher, George. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1979.

Nonverbal communication and language are different

Nonverbal Communication

Nonverbal communication and language are different. There has been some research claiming that humans used nonverbal communication before they developed a language. Nonverbal communication is the process of sending and receiving messages without using words by means of facial expressions, eye contact, gestures, postures, physical appearance, and tones of voice. The concept of nonverbal communication is complex. It is almost impossible to know exactly what it includes, but the majority of our talking is done without speaking.

No one can speak more than one word at a time, but nonverbal messages can be sent in multiple ways at the same time. The meaning of nonverbal messages differs between cultures (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 119), races, and sometimes gender (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 130). Nonverbal and verbal communications sometimes contradict each other because people are sometimes unaware of the nonverbal messages that they send (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 119).

The movement of the body makes up a language, in which certain movements have specific meanings. Kinesics focuses on how people communicate through movement and posture, gestures, and the face and eyes (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 124). Kinesics refers to all types of body movement, except for touch, that may act as nonverbal communication. Body movement and posture are known as body language.

Gestures are large and small movements of the hands and arms that send messages. Gestures complement our speech, bridge our silences, send unspoken messages, or express our approval or disapproval (Lamb and Watson, Body Code: The Meaning in Movement, 1). Negative gestures like fidgeting lets others know that a speaker is nervous and has a lack of confidence. Speakers who don’t use any type of gesturing seem insecure and uncertain (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 125).

Sign language is any type of hand gesture that replaces specific words or numbers. It can range from a single hand gesture, such as a peace sign, to the language system of the deaf (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 53). Sign language was developed in the sixteenth century when Geronimo Cardano said that deaf people could learn and understand sign communication. Sign language is used throughout the world, not only by deaf people, but also by people that want to interact with them.

Familiar hand gestures that we give specific meanings to may have different meanings for different people. For example, in the 1950s, Vice President Richard Nixon went on a tour of Latin America. When he stepped off his airplane he flashed the OK sign. The crowd booed him because in their culture, it meant, “Screw you” (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 29-55).

Researchers have found differences of body language between gender and race. When men communicate power they often have an open body posture, using both the arms and legs. By comparison, women don’t expand as much. When women feel less powerful, they tend to lessen the amount of space their body takes up and tilt their head (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 124). Young blacks have developed movements that are quite different than whites. Kenneth Johnson, a researcher in ethnic studies at the University of California at Berkeley, has described distinctive manners of black youths. According to Kenneth Johnson:

“There is a style of black male walking behavior, called in street jargon the pimp strut, which functions as an attention-getting device and serves to exhibit one’s masculinity and state one’s racial pride, self-confidence, and control. The young Black males’ walk is different. First of all, it’s much slower—it’s more of a stroll. The head is sometimes elevated and casually tipped to the side. Only one arm swings at the side with the hand slightly cupped. The other arm hangs limply to the side or it is tucked in the pocket. The gait is slow, casual and rhythmic. The gait is almost like a walking dance, with all parts of the body moving in rhythmic harmony” (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An

Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 130).

Movements of the face that are used to send messages are known as facial expressions. “Facial expressions may be controlled or uncontrolled” (Moss and Tubbs, Interpersonal Communication, 53). Certain facial expressions may be voluntary and some may be involuntary. The human face is capable of displaying six basic emotions such as sadness, fear, surprise, disgust, anger, and happiness (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 126).

Eye contact is also an important part of kinesics. Gazing is the very core of the concept of eye contact when dealing with nonverbal communication. The duration of a gaze can have mixed effects. If the gaze is maintained for one hundred percent of the conversation, it will be more likely uncomfortable to both the speaker and the listener. On the other hand, if the gaze is maintained for about seventy percent of the time, the results are then positive. This maintains a positive, sincere, and more normal environment (Moss and Tubbs, Interpersonal Communication, 68).

There have been some research studies that indicate that white males tend to engage in more eye contact than black males. Also the research indicates that black men engage in the least amount of eye contact then interacting with a white male. When blacks use a particular roll of the eyes in talking with whites, Kenneth Johnson says, “The movement of the eyes communicates all or parts of the message. The main message is hostility” (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 130).

Proxemics is the studies of how humans perceive, organize, and use space to communicate. Everything from how far you stand from students in line to how you arrange furniture in your bedroom all fit in this category. Humans have two kinds of needs, affiliated needs and privacy needs. Humans are very social creatures and at times we want to affiliate with others, but at other times, we need to have some privacy.

Selected individuals such as family and friends satisfy our affiliated needs. That is why we want contact with certain people rather than random individuals. Our need for privacy is really a need to control and to have the freedom to be alone. Proxemics includes territoriality and personal space.

Territoriality refers to claiming and defending a territory as one’s own. Territories are staked out as a means of protecting the self and providing privacy. Someone’s house, apartment, or room is their territory and they have the right to defend it against intruders. For example, many students pick out their own chair in a classroom and return to it for the rest of the course. Many housewives think of their kitchen as their territory and they will get mad if a child, husband, or even friends interfere.

There are different types of territories. They include public territory (places open to the public), interactional (social interaction), and home territory (any geographical place that someone regards as their home), and body territory (the human body and its surrounding space) (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 92). All of these territories play a huge role in nonverbal communication. Personality, culture, and physical expressions are all derived from these territories of proxemics (Lamb and Watson, Body Code: The Meaning in Movement, 89).

Personal space refers to the space around a person’s body. Personal space differs from territoriality in that it is not a fixed space. This space increases and decreases according to the situation. It may be very large when a person is in a strange environment and may shrink to nothing in the presence of a loved one.

Haptics is the study of touch. According to Desmond Morris, “We are a touch-starved society.” This quotation emphasizes the reason why touch is considered to have such potential for communication. Humans need to touch and be touched. Contact is necessary as a means of communication between mother and child. Touch also plays a role in psychological development. Only through touching his or her own body and objects in the environment can help the child to begin to recognize him or her as separate from the rest of the environment. Children learn sizes, shapes, and textures through touching things. The way a child perceives things is dependent on haptic experiences. The self-explorations that children engage in also contribute to their own body images, to whether or not they are comfortable with their own bodies. The perceptions that children acquire are dependent on how others react to them.

Physical contact is also important to a child’s psychological sense of security and well-being. Touching seems to provide a source of reassurance and comfort. It helps to release negative feelings. The final importance of touch is social in nature. Physical contact appears to be necessary for the development of interpersonal relationships. Touch experiences can strongly influence a person’s ability to relate to others, to trust them, and to be sensitive to others needs. Psychiatrists have linked many marital problems to inadequate or inappropriate experiences in childhood. Violence and aggression may have the same cause.

A number of studies have indicated that serious biological, psychological, and sociological problems do result when humans are deprived of touch. Research has suggested that a number of children that are placed in orphanages develop serious health and behavior problems. Lack of physical contact in childhood has led to such problems as allergies, speech difficulties, and learning disabilities later in life.

Adults and adolescents need and want physical contact. At least in intimate relationships, touch is an important part of the communication between two people. Lack of touch is taken as a sign that something is wrong in the relationship. Desmond Morris claims that in our culture we turn to “licensed torchers” such as hair stylists, barbers, manicurists, and masseuses. Even if body contact is not the main reason for seeking such services, the body contact is a satisfying result. This need for touch is due to the high degree of isolation that our culture has created.

The increasing of urbanization has left people not knowing most of the people that we see in a day’s time. We do not know whom we can trust and so we avoid contact with each other. These feelings of isolation and uncertainty are brought on by stress from living in urban environments. Too many people, too much noise, too little room, and too much activity are causes of environmental stress (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 69-70).

One way that people express themselves is through their physical appearance. Physical appearance, which includes our natural body features, dress, accessories, and cosmetics, is usually the first nonverbal code to have an impact on a relationship. It affects the visual, touch, and smell senses. These items convey a great deal of detailed information about someone’s lifestyles, personality, and values.

Americans today are obsessed with beauty. Physical attractiveness may be influential in determining whether a person is preferred. It may have a bearing on whether a person is able to persuade or manipulate others. Cosmetics and fashion are multimillion-dollar industries. People spend great sums of money for products, programs, and secrets to take off pounds or put them on, to get rid of wrinkles, to straighten or curly hair, to eliminate odors and create new ones and to hold in bulges. Women use bras and girdles, while some men use stiff collars and neckties to become beautiful or attractive people. Some men have hair transplants to cure baldness. Sometimes men and women have plastic surgery to alter their image.

The stereotypes of beauty are embedded in our culture. People’s obsession comes from television. Commercials and advertisements show models for what people should look like. Usually on television, the typical housewife or working man is attractive in some way.

Another important artifact that reflects on how good of an impression a person is given by someone is how he or she wears his or her hair. A person’s hairstyle depends on their personality. Hair has, at various times, been braided, curled, straightened, hardened, colored, cut, shaved off, or covered with a wig or weave, all in the name of beauty. Different cultures have different ways in which they maintain and style their hair. In some cultures, facial hair has been admired and taken as a sign of status (Moss and Tubbs, Interpersonal Communication, 78).

Like cosmetics and hair fashions, clothing and jewelry have played a significant role in beautification. There are a range of styles and materials that have been considered attractive. The importance of clothing is a central aspect of impression. Clothes seem to be important to first impressions. In one study, males and females were asked what things that they noticed first about a person. Females and males noticed clothes first, but for members of the opposite sex the face and figure were first.

Vocalics, also called paralanguage, is another form of nonverbal communication.

Vocalics includes the elements produced by the human voice, other than the words themselves. There are elements of the human voice that contribute to nonverbal communication such as intensity (volume), rate (the speed at which a person talks), and pitch (lowness and highness of the voice) (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 129). Everything from sniffs and sneezes to rapid speech and singing fall into this category. Silences and pauses in speech also fall into this category (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 80).

Vocal cues carry important messages. They carry a variety of information, ranging from the speaker’s sex and ethnic background to personality. Vocal cues send messages of attraction and dislike and they can also reveal status and power (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 84).

Vocal cues can distinguish emotions and also influence our thoughts about personality (Moss and Tubbs, Interpersonal Communication, 180). Several distinct emotions can be accurately identified solely on the basis of vocal cues. The rate of speech is very important in communication. A faster speed rate, as well as shorter comments and more frequent pauses, is linked to fear or anger. A slower speech rate can be linked to depression (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 84).

In conclusion, nonverbal communication is often used more than verbal communication to show emotions and the relationship part of a message. People use verbal communication to express facts, opinions, ideas, whereas, nonverbal communication is used to express or show feelings (Morreale, Spitzberg, and Barge, Human Communication: Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills, 119).

There has been some research to show that there is some kind of difference between the nonverbal behaviors between blacks and whites and also between men and women (Burgoon and Saine, The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to Nonverbal Communication, 130).

Nonverbal communication has many functions. It works in one or three ways: it replaces, reinforces, or contradicts a verbal message. A person can improve their use of nonverbal communication by being perceptive to context, audience, and feedback. The context includes the physical setting and the situation.

Touch is a significant aspect of nonverbal communication. It has also been concluded that there is a strong correlation between lack of physical pleasure and violence: the more pleasure, the less violence and vice versa. Cultures that display a lot of physical affection toward infants have a low incidence of theft, murder, rape, and physical punishments, while those that deny physical pleasure to infants generally have high rates of adult violence.

Physical appearance, which is also important in nonverbal communication, seems to be a large factor in determining how others judge personalities, sexuality, social status, and often happiness.

Bibliography:

Burgoon, Judee K. and Thomas Saine. The Unspoken Dialogue: An Introduction to

Nonverbal Communication. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1978.

Lamb, Warren and Elizabeth Watson. Body Code: The Meaning in Movement. Princeton,

NJ: Princeton Book Company, 1987.

Morreale, Sherwyn P., Brian H. Spitzberg, and J. Kevin Barge. Human Communication:

Motivation, Knowledge, & Skills. Belmont, CA: Thomson Learning, Inc., 2001.

Stephen, P. Atlas of Facial Expressions. New York, NY: Springer, 1987.

Moss, S. and S. L. Tubbs. Interpersonal Communication. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin,

1978.

Non-Biological Families and Their Relationships

Non-Biological Families and Their Relationships

In Erdrich’s “Foreword,” the concept of non-biological families and their relationships are brought to light. The author is telling a story about a period in her life. She married a man who had a son with a disease. She shows us how, although she wasn’t biologically attached to the child, because of her closeness to him and the relationship she created with him, they became a true family that cared and loved each other. This love of a non-biological family is even greater than that of a normal biological family.

In Erdrich’s “Foreword,” we see the best example of how relationships within a family strengthen that family and makes then closer together. This story is so unique because she is not the child’s biological mother. She married a man who had adopted this child and in marrying him she adopted him too. Even with these obstacles, she was able to create a closeness and special bond with the child and keep their family together, with loving care.

The author begins with a tragic story of her child Adam, who suffers from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. He was shoveling the snow and had one of his many seizures. Right away we see her love and special relationship with her child by saying, “Jumping into the snow I felt a moment of obscure gratitude to Michael for letting me go to Adam’s rescue.” In life, when someone has to do something, even if it involves helping a loved one, out of our natural laziness we always try to go out of it, especially when there is someone else to do it for us. Here we see just the opposite. She rushes out first and is thankful that she can be the one that helps and ultimately saves her child. This shows us her love for this child, which is so great and must be from a special bond she has with him.

She goes on to explain how when she got married and ultimately adopted the children, the judge announced it was final. “Adam turned to me with delight and said, “Mom!” not Louise.” This is a very powerful statement. One can feel the emotion going through the author’s body. Her eyes watering with tears of joy and happiness. She is overjoyed with emotion that this child which she loves so much and was able to build a powerful relationship with, loves her back with the same enthusiasm.

Once Michael went out of town and she was left to take care of the children by herself, for the first time. Being that Michael was a parent for more time than Louise, Adam feared him more and thought he could get away with making trouble while she was in charge. The other kids had all finished eating dinner and Adam’s plate was still untouched. She begged and yelled at him to eat, but to no avail. She knew if he did not eat, he would suffer an attack in the morning. She made him his favorite sandwich. Nevertheless, Adam was still being stubborn and did not eat and she did not know what to do. She loved him like her own biological son. She had a special bond and relationship with him, but said “If I can’t help him to survive in the simplest way, how can I be his mother?” She was so upset that her love for him was not enough and she was losing their aura of a family because she could not take care of him. This hurt her so much she began to panic. How can one love someone so much and not be able to help them? It is a scary thought. She goes on to say, “I don’t think I can handle it.” She is afraid that she cannot handle Adam and this hurts her so much because of her love for him. It is like someone you love is dying and you can do nothing to help them. You feel helpless and guilty. This is what she had to go through. This is her love for Adam. He is not her biological child but her closeness and relationship with him is much closer than most Biological mothers and sons, which make them a close and unique family.

We see this same idea of a non-biological relationship in Cheever’s “The Nanny Dilemma.” The author tells a story about a woman named Dominique who is an immigrant to the United States, coming from Trinidad. Like many woman immigrants from there, as well as other Caribbean islands, she got hired to work as a nanny for some rich family living in New York City. She loved this job so much. She had her own apartment, clothes, got paid very well and was part of a family. Of course, she was not literally part of the family she was working for, but she had a special relationship with them. From knowing every move the parents make and what they need, to being a supplemental mother and sometimes a father figure to the children when the parents are not there, that was her job.

Her day starts off with going to the house, finding the parents trying to get ready for work, the kids all screaming and not being taken care of. Quickly, she sends the parents off to work and tends to the children’s needs. She spends most of the day and the early part of the night with the children. As in Erdrich’s “Foreword,” she begins to create a bond with her non-biological kids. Over time she develops a closeness and special relationship with them. They consider her a sub-mom, one that is there during the day and is replaced at night. She loves the children as if they were her own and they love her as if she were their real mother.

She explains however, why she is upset with the parents. She loves the children and knows that the children need to be loved. She says, “They want us to be mother and father to these children . . . they are the ones who brought the kids into the world, but then they don’t have time to raise them. So the kids get attached to you, because you’re the one who’s always there. Then the parents get angry” (Cheever 158-159). Unlike Erdrich, in which Louise has none else to fight with over the child’s love, Dominique has the real parents to deal with. She loves the children like her own, but has to keep a distance because she does not want to upset the parents. This is a hard thing to do. The real downside, however, is when her job is done and she is relieved of her duties because they do not need her anymore. It is like losing a loved one for life. She loved these kids and they loved her, now they are saying goodbye forever. Unlike Erdrich, where they had their whole lives to spend together and Louise was not going anywhere, Dominique says “When you leave, the children can be devastated – and it can break your heart too.”

In Gates’s “Down to Cumberland,” we see this idea of a non-biological family having a closer relationship than that of a biological one. However, the author now shows this point through a different view. We see from this story how a biological family has a very distant relationship, unlike the non-biological families I have mentioned thus far. He starts by saying “I saw the Gateses all together on only two occasions in my childhood, and those were my grandparents’ funeral”(Gates 147). He continues by telling the story of his father’s family, which he only knows from an album full of pictures. He found this album in his grandfather’s trunk, in which each picture tells a story. Every relative had a problem with another one. His grandfather hated his sisters, his father hated his grandmother and so on. He went on to say that even on occasions where they would go down and visit his father’s brothers and sisters, “Daddy would drink a beer and spend a lot of time talking to his old buddies from Carver High School”(Gates 151), and not with his own family. Gates went on to tell of stories where his aunt was engaged to a very nice gentleman. Her fiancé was drafted in the war and never returned home. He ended up marrying some young woman he met in Paris. We see from this that even one of the closest relationships within a family of a husband and wife, wasn’t close enough for them to stay together. Though he mentions that he is close with his mother’s family, we see the main idea of Erdrich’s, that non biological families have closer relationships, since he was not close with his biological family.

Relationships are very powerful things. They can make people happy and sad and sometimes both at the same time. A relationship is a bond that two or more people share with each other. Through a family is one of the strongest forms of relationships. However, a non-biological family has a stronger relationship than that of a biological one. From Erdrich’s “Foreword,” we see this strong relationship with a non-biological family. Though Cheever’s “The Nanny Dilemma” and Gates’s “Down to Cumberland” differ with each other and with Erdrich, they all share this same underlining characteristic. Families have the strongest relationships with each other than any other type of relationship known. Ironically, it is the non-biological families rather than biological ones that are usually more intense and closer.

Bibliography:

Cheever, Susan. “The Nanny Dilemma.” Making Contact: Readings from Home and Abroad. Ed. Carol J. Verburg. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 155-163.

Erdrich, Louise. “Foreword.” Making Contact: Readings from Home and Abroad. Ed. Carol J. Verburg. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 137-145.

Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. “Down to Cumberland.” Making Contact: Readings from Home and Abroad. Ed. Carol J. Verburg. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. 146-154

Nikola Tesla

Nikola Tesla

In this modern age of cell phones and palm pilots we often find ourselves relying on technology to make it through the day. How many people can say that they could do without a car or a phone? Indeed we all take a lot of technology for granted. Some of the technology is so pervasive that we tend to forget it is even there. AC powered engines drive numerous machines, vacuum tubes power televisions and monitors, and wireless communication is vital to radio and other mediums. These and a few other simple ideas are the foundation on which everything we use today was built and most of them were invented by one man, almost a hundred years ago. The technology is so common place that few even know the name of the man responsible for it. His name was Nikola Telsa and by 1900 he held over 100 patents on everything from the x-ray to the remote control. Despite his contributions in the field of science he died penniless and virtually unknown. To this day he is overlooked by even the Smithsonian, which displays none of his work. Nikola Tesla, a Serbian immigrant, may have been one the greatest masterminds of the technological century.

Nikola Tesla was born in 1856 in small Serbian hamlet near the Austro-Hungarian border. His father was a priest in the Serbian Orthodox Church, a choice he made as an alternative to joining the army. Perhaps it was genetic or perhaps it was his environment but Tesla acquired attributes from his family that would later define him as a genius. His father, being a priest was extremely prodigious, with an acute memory that he passed on to his son. Tesla’s mother was illiterate but despite this she was blessed with an amazingly creative imagination. Tesla was also inspired to succeed after the death of his brother.

In elementary school Nikola showed an amazing aptitude for mathematics. By the time he graduated he could solve complex math problems in his head. He required no drawings, models or experiments, only time to visualize it. Unfortunately Telsa’s high school career was cut short due to a bout with Cholera that nearly killed him. It was during his time in bed that his father told him that he would allow Nikola to go to study electrical engineering at the prestigious Polytechnic Institute in Graz, Austria. Nikola was overjoyed to hear the news and after regaining his health he left for Austria at the age of 19.

It was at the institute that Tesla discovered a problem that would become his obsession for years: alternating currents. During one of his classes a professor was demonstrating a piece of electrical equipment that worked on DC (direct current) power and required a commutator to change the direction of the current. Tesla thought that if he could come up with a way to make the current itself alternate, the commutator would be useless. He remarked to the professor about his plans only to be ridiculed. The judgment didn’t face Nikola one bit and he thought about the problem day and night, sleeping an average of only four hours. The solution still eluded him after leaving Austria to work for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in Budapest. During his time in Budapest he came up with the idea for the loudspeaker, and in what would become Tesla’s fashion, he failed to patent the idea.

Telsa’s propensity for illness also followed him to Budapest. There he was stricken by a very mysterious illness. Tesla had always had sharp senses, but one day they all seemed to go into overdrive to the point where he was incapable of performing even menial tasks. The sound of a sound of a pocket watch, even several rooms away, became deafening to him. He installed rubber cushions on the feet of his bed to decrease vibrations from people walking nearby, which shook him terribly. Years later he claimed to be able to hear thunder from hundreds of miles away. At the same time Tesla began to manifest symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Before he could eat he had to be sure of the exact volume of his food, which he got by dipping it in water. Any actions he repeated daily (like footsteps in his walk) had to be divisible by three. He would continue to perform the task until he arrived a suitable total. Tesla never shook hands with anyone and never showed any signs of attraction to the opposite sex, or same sex for that matter. Some of Tesla’s compulsions aided him in his lab work. He worked fervently, forgetting to eat or sleep for days at a time. At one point his exhaustion cause him to forget who he was for several days (Neidle, 139).

After he recovered his illness, Tesla was free to solve the problem of AC power. One day, while watching the sun set, Tesla had an epiphany. He immediately drew his plans for the AC induction motor in the sand. That was it, Nikola Tesla had changed electrical engineering and consequently the world forever, now the challenge was to convince others of it. Tesla showed his ideas to numerous influential people in Europe with no luck, no one was interested. After months of failed exhibitions someone suggested that he bring his inventions to Thomas Edison in New York. After having all his belongings stolen, Tesla arrived in America with four cents. Unfortunately, Thomas Edison would do nothing to help Tesla financially. At the time Edison was working to construct DC power plants in many cities around the country. He had a lot riding on the venture and did not want to hear anything about Tesla’s AC schemes. “Hold up! Spare me the nonsense. It’s dangerous. We’re set up for direct current in America. People like it, and it’s all I’ll ever fool with.” Despite their disagreements Edison offered Tesla a job redesigning his DC motors, which were prone to breakdown. A year later Tesla had created a DC motor that was a great improvement over Edison’s previous design. Edison took the motor and never paid Tesla the $50,000 he had promised him (One Story of Nikola Tesla, 2).

Tesla’s efforts did not go unnoticed and those in the academic world soon began discussing the prospects of AC power. Business magnate George Westinghouse, an early advocate of AC power, soon became interested in Nikola’s idea. Westinghouse proceeded to buy the patents for Tesla’s polyphase AC systems and hire him as a consultant. The system was a great success and beat out Edison’s DC systems. Westinghouse implemented the system across the country and even on Niagara Falls. The system is still in use today. In their contract Westinghouse had agreed to pay Tesla two dollars and fifty cents for every AC motor sold. The royalties alone would have made Tesla the richest man in the world at the time. However a smear campaign launched by Edison’s financial backer, J.P. Morgan, scared investors away from Westinghouse, depriving him of the capital he needed to proceed. In an act of friendship, and some would say stupidity, Tesla ripped up the contract between himself and Westinghouse, releasing him from any obligation to pay Tesla. He never again received royalties.

The money he did get from his adventures in AC power did allow him to build his own laboratory in Colorado Springs, CO. The location was especially enticing because Tesla had been offered free electricity by a friend at the local power plant. Tesla seized the opportunity and constructed a 150 foot metal tower at his lab. The idea of the tower was to test his theory of resonant energy. Tesla discovered that the earth, with its molten iron core, was a great conductor for electricity. He could send a pulse of electricity through the earth that would return to him about 1/30th of a second later, but considerably weaker than when it started. To amplify the wave he would just send more electricity out at that exact moment the first returned. He experimented with it for weeks, putting small amounts of energy into his tower. People living around it reported lights in their house coming on spontaneously and sparks would leap from the ground as people walked. This was only the test phase. In the fall of 1899 Tesla turned his machine all the way up. The result was truly dazzling. One hundred and thirty five foot bolts of lightning leapt from the ground to the top of the tower. If the war, and still is, the most powerful man-made power surge in history. Unfortunately the experiment was cut short when Tesla blew out the generator at the power plant. Nonetheless, Tesla’s experiment proved his theory of free energy, the next step was to sell it. Tesla new that people would be reluctant about the idea of free energy so he passed off his idea as new form of transmitting communications, not electricity. The man who had cost Tesla millions of dollars, J.P. Morgan, took him up on the idea and gave him money to build a new laboratory on Long Island, which he called Wardenclyffe. Wardencylffe was wracked by a string of accidents including a fire. Morgan’s interest in the project started to win and as a last ditch effort Telsa informed Morgan that he was not trying to redesign the telegraph, but replace the traditional way of transmitting energy. Morgan withdrew from the project and Tesla never got to bring his idea of free energy to the world.

In try to get himself out of debt Tesla started to experiment with inventions that had military applications. Given Tesla’s past inventions and his genius it is frightening to think what he could have done in a war? This is same man who claimed that he could spilt the earth in two with his resonance machine, and no one ever knew it was joking. Tesla first dabbled with war machines when he invented an automated submarine that was so advanced that it responded to voice commands. He remained humanitarian about the project saying he didn’t invent it so destroy, only to prevent lives from being lost at sea. He proposed his submarine to the government and to J.P. Morgan. The government passed and Morgan agreed only if Tesla would marry his daughter. Tesla passes on the offer. Eventually he ended up getting a contract with the German government to manufacture turbines for use in their submarines. Tesla was forced to give up the contract soon thereafter lest he be charged with treason when World War I broke out. So instead of sulking Tesla dreamed up a new invention that he thought would interest the military: a death ray. He began and finished construction on his death ray in 1908 atop a tower at his Wardencylffe lab. The specifications of the device are shaky at best but from what we can gather from his notes it was an early form of a particle accelerator. The ray focused a beam of energy so concentrated that it wouldn’t scatter over long distances. Tesla couldn’t wait to test his device and one night in 1908 he did. At the time Robert Peary was on a expedition to the North pole and Tesla had told the party that we try to contact them, neglecting to tell them how. On the cool summer night of June the 30th Tesla pointed his death ray out over the Atlantic Ocean to a point near the Peary expedition. He switched the device on and at first it seemed if nothing was happening. The weapon emitted a dim light that was barely visible. It wasn’t until an owl flew into the path of the beam and disintegrated instantly that Tesla knew something was happening. He switched it off and waited for contact from the Peary expedition. The next day in the newspaper he read about an explosion in Siberia that came to be known as the Tunguska event. The explosion flattened trees for five hundred thousand square acres and the event was audible for 620 miles. The explosion was equivalent to 10 to 15 megatons of TNT, and even consequent thermonuclear explosions have not equaled it. Scientists today belie that the explosion was caused by a comet or meteorite fragment that exploded above the surface of the earth although no mineral fragments or impact craters were ever found. Tesla had another explanation. He had missed the Peary expedition and hit Siberia. Luckily no one was killed in the explosion, but Tesla dismantled the device anyway and never put it back together, something which we should all be thankful for (Tesla, 79).

A lack of funds pushed Tesla into obscurity in his later years. He was unable to obtain any patents for his inventions because doing so would require a working model, the money for which just wasn’t there. For this reason all Tesla’s ideas were confined to his notebook. From looking at his notes one can only imagine what he could have done under the right circumstances. He was working on predecessors to voice recognition, the fax machine, and x-rays (“Nikola Tesla”, 1). He even proposed his plan for an “exploring ray” to the War Department during World War I. The board, which included Thomas Edison, dismissed the idea a joke. Ironically a few years later an invention almost identical to Tesla’s helped the allies win World War II, it was called radar.

There are several theories about why Tesla fell from grace like he did. Tesla was not a businessman and looking back it is easy to see that he made some bad financial decisions. His contract with Westinghouse alone would have allowed him to die in luxury, but the most accomplished men are rarely the most brilliant and more often the ones who know how to play the game. Some put Tesla’s downfall in the hands of a few powerful men who conspired to destroy him. Thomas Edison was immensely jealous of Tesla because of his amazing scope and did his best to convince the public that AC power just wouldn’t work. He held public demonstrations in which he electrocuted animals using AC power, a deceptive and cruel ploy. He was jubilant when he found out that Sin Sing prison was using AC power to run its electric chair. J.P. Morgan was the other man who was belied to be active in the anti-Tesla cover up. When Tesla informed Morgan about his plans for free energy, Morgan was so scared by the idea of free distribution of energy that he did what any self-respecting capitalist would have, cut all of Tesla’s funding. In the future he put considerable resources into making sure Tesla would never rethink the idea. Perhaps most amazingly the government became strangely interested in Tesla’s work after his death. The Office of Alien Property illegal seized all his work from his laboratory. Tesla’s paper were just recently released to the public under the freedom of information act (Neidle, 165).

Unfortunately Tesla’s downfall can most probably be attributed to his failing public image due to a surge of outlandish ideas and inventions. Tesla claimed that while working one night in his Colorado Springs laboratory his magnifying tower began to emit a precise series of clicks. Tesla deemed it Morse code and said that it had come from extraterrestrial life on Mars. He began to try to contact the Martians. As far as we know, he was never successful. Tesla dismissed Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity as vague and incoherent. At the same time he worked on his own plans of time travel, teleportation and anti-gravity ships. As this leads one to question how great of a scientist Tesla actually was.

Nikola Tesla died in 1943 at the age of 87. He was penniless and lived in a dilapidated New York hotel room with a flock of pigeons that he considered his only friends. Tesla never married, never even knew the company of a woman. Nikola Tesla died how he had been born, humbly.

It has taken over a hundred years for people to finally rediscover Nikola Tesla’s genius. The inventor had gained almost a cult following among electrical engineers. At least three organizations are devoted to preserving Tesla’s memory. The Nikola Tesla Museum in Belgrade, the Tesla Memorial Society in New York and the International Tesla Society in Colorado Springs. In addition there exists a 1,000-member Tesla Engine Builders Association. Members of the group claim that recent tests on the engine indicate that it could rank as the world’s most efficient gas engine. The Tesla Coil web ring has more than 100 sites where fans of the invention post pictures and videos of electrical displays that make Hollywood pale in comparison (Lange, 2). Tesla Technology Research in Monrovia, California manufactures laboratory grade Tesla coils for use in theme parks, feature films and are an integral part of Ohio State’s high-voltage engineering lab. “Inventors of the modern computer have repeatedly been surprised, when seeking patents, to encounter Tesla’s basic ones already on file,” said Tesla historian Leland Anderson. Some of Tesla’s patents from 1903 contain the basic elements of the logical and circuit element (Lange 4).

By the 1940’s the scientific community regarded Tesla as a mad scientist. Early Superman cartoons feature Superman fighting a villain with electromagnetic terrors named Tesla. Even if some of Tesla’s ideas were completely wrong you cannot ignore all his other contributions to humanity. Slowly people are starting to recognize him as the genius he was. The Supreme Court ruled after his death that he was the legal inventor of the radio, not Guglielmo Marconi who had stolen it from him at a public exhibition. The court also recognized Tesla as the inventor of the vacuum tube, florescent bulb and the X-Ray machine. History books have followed suit. The advent of the internet has made Tesla’s legacy known to millions as well. Perhaps the story of the demolition of his Wardencylffe laboratory serves as the best metaphor for his life. In 1917 the bank foreclosed on the building and it was consigned for demolition. The demotion team succeed in destroying the building but the massive tower on which Tesla had done many of his experiments still stood. They blasted it repeatedly but it still stood proudly. The team gave up and had to return on a later date to try again. Finally they felled the tower but when it hit the ground it did not explode, shatter or even crack.

Bibliography:

Lange, Larry. “Tesla’s Legacy Continues to Electrify Engineers.” EE Times Online. 9 July 1998. 15 March 2001. http://www.eet.com/news/98/1016news/tesla.html

Martin, Thomas. The Inventions Researches and Writings of Nikola Tesla. New York: The Electrical Engineer, 1894.

Neidle, Cycle S. Great Immigrants. New York: Twyane Publishers, 1973.

“Nikola Tesla..” Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 1996. 15 March 2001. http://www.neuronet.pitt.edu/~bodgan/tesla/bio.htm.

One Story of Nikola Tesla. 3 May 1999. 15 March 2001. http://www.speakeasy.org/~ohh/tesla.htm.

Tesla, Nikola. My Inventions: The Autobiography of Nikola Tesla. New York: Hart Brothers, 1982.