Applied Nuclear Physics
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this advanced nuclear physics course for engineering students, covering the basic properties of the nucleus and nuclear radiations. Lessons work through quantum mechanical calculations of the deuteron bound-state wave function and energy, neutron-proton scattering cross sections, transition probability per unit time, and barrier transmission probability. The course also covers binding energy and nuclear stability, how charged particles, neutrons, and gamma rays interact with matter, radioactive decay processes, and the energetics and general cross section behavior of nuclear reactions. Materials include MIT lecture notes, problem sets, and exams from the original course, free to access under a Creative Commons license with no certificate offered. Suited to students with a physics and calculus background looking for a rigorous, quantitative treatment of nuclear phenomena relevant to engineering applications.