Can we unlock the secrets hidden deep within the nucleus of an atom?

Suitable for 14-19-year olds (secondary and high schools, and college), this article and accompanying activity sheet can be used in the classroom, STEM clubs and at home.

This resource links to KS4 and KS5 physics.

It can also be used as a careers resource and links to Gatsby Benchmarks:
Gatsby Benchmark 2: Learning from career and labour market information
Gatsby Benchmark 4: Linking curriculum learning to careers

• This teaching resource explains the work of Dr Daniel Pitonyak, a nuclear physicist at Lebanon Valley College, USA. He is investigating the 3D structure of hadrons and uncovering the origin of the proton’s spin.

• This resource also contains an interview with Daniel and offers an insight into careers in nuclear physics. If your students have questions for Daniel, they can send them to him online. All they need to do is to go to the article online (see the Futurum link below), scroll down to the end and type in the question(s). Daniel will reply!

• The activity sheet provides ‘talking points’ (based on Bloom’s Taxonomy) to prompt students to reflect on Daniel’s research and challenges them to explore how we can harness the power of nuclear physics to produce electricity.

• An animation about Daniel’s work is available through the weblink, along with a downloadable script.

This resource was first published on Futurum Careers, a free online resource and magazine aimed at encouraging 14-19-year-olds worldwide to pursue careers in science, tech, engineering, maths, medicine (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and the arts for people and the economy (SHAPE).

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