A Look at Nuclear Science and Technology

Larry Foulke

Atomic and Nuclear Physics The Einstein Connection 2.4 Just like your checkbook; it all has to balance and Unstable nuclides eventually go away

Nuclear Decay Chart of Nuclides

Check the web at
http://www-nds.iaea.org/relnsd/vcharthtml/VChartHTML.html For an alternative chart Try also http://wwwndc.jaes.go.jp/CN10/index.html Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chart_of_nuclides These web links are on the Week 2 Overview.

Nuclear Data

Nuclear Decay Balance Eqns.

Shorthand notation for writing nuclear decay events Similar to chemical balance equations Examples

Alpha Decay:
Beta Decay:

235 92

231 90

4 Th + 2

239 93 11 6

Np 239 94 Pu +

0 1

0 +0

11 0 + 0 C B + + Positron Emiss.: 5 1 0

Equation must always conserve mass and charge Typically dont list energy or momentum in these balance equations
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Nuclear Data

Nuclear Decay Balance Eqns.

Shorthand notation for writing nuclear decay events Similar to chemical balance equations Examples 235 231 4 235 231 4 U Th + U Th + Alpha Decay: 92 or 92 90 2 90 2 He

Beta Decay:

239 93

Np

239 94

0 0 Pu + 1 +0

11 0 + 0 C B + + Positron Emiss.: 5 1 0 11 6

Equation must always conserve mass and charge Typically dont list energy or momentum in these balance equations
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Nuclear Data

Nuclear Decay
The decay of an unstable nucleus is a random process. Every unstable nuclide is characterized by a unique decay constant, . Decay Constant The probability that a single nucleus will decay per unit time.

Units:

decay nuclei second

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Decay Activity
If N is the number of nuclei present in a sample then the rate of nuclear decays for the sample is given by:

A(t ) = N (t )
A is referred to as the activity of the sample. Activity has basic units of
decay decay = [nuclei] second nuclei second

SI Unit:

1 Becquerel [Bq] = 1 decay/sec

Old Unit: 1 Curie [Ci] = 3.71010 decay/sec

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Decay Activity (Time Dependent)

Each radioactive decay destroys one of the unstable nuclei, changing the number of nuclei present.

The number of nuclei, N, and activity, A, are time dependent quantities

A(t ) = N (t )

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Decay Activity (Time Dependent)

N (t )= N (0 )e A(t )= A(0 )e
t t

The original formula can be rewritten in terms of the fractional nuclide population remaining after time t.

Fractional population at time t

A(t ) = = e t N (0 ) A(0)
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N (t )

Example calculation
Presume that we have 1,000,000 nuclei of uranium-235 which has a half-life of

1 = 7.04 x108 years = 704 million years

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And lets say we want to know the fractional population of uranium-235 after radioactive decay for one million years First, we have to calculate the decay constant from the half-life of 7.04x108 years

(7.04 x10 yrs)

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0.693

= 9.84 x1010 yrs 1

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Example calculation
Fractional population at time t

N (t ) t =e N (0 )

Presume that we have 1,000,000 nuclei of uranium-235 which has a radioactive decay constant of:

= 9.84 x1010 yrs 1

And lets say we want to know the fractional population of uranium-235 after radioactive decay for one-year (or one years worth of seconds = 3.15576x107 seconds) The answer is:

N (0 )

N (t )

( =e

9.84 x1010 yr 1 (1,000,000 yrs )

=e

9.84 x1010

= 0.99902
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Decay in Units of Half-Life

Knief, Fig 2-2

Half-Life Examples
Uranium 232 233 234 235 236 238 Fission Products Strontium-90 Cesium-137 70 yr 160,000 yr 250,000 yr 704,000,000 yr 23,000,000 yr 4,500,000,000 yr

29 yr 30 yr
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Mean Time to Decay

In addition to the half-life it is also useful to know the mean lifetime for a nuclide Mean Lifetime ()
The average (mean) time that it will take for a single nuclide to decay. 1 = Units: [seconds]

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Nuclear Decay
During a nuclear decay much of the excess energy of an unstable nuclei is removed with the emitted particle: Changes in binding energy of nucleus Kinetic energy given to emitted particle However, following the decay event, the product nucleus may be left in an excited state (still too much energy) In these cases the nucleus can do one of two things:
Undergo nuclear decay again Rearrange nucleons in nucleus to achieve a lower overall energy state.

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Image Source Notes

1. Reprinted with permission from Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corporation.