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Gravity Electric Capacitance  Magnetic Thermal Gas Laws  Further Nuclear Special Topics 
Fields and Fields and Fields and Physics  Mechanics  Physics and
Potentials  Potentials  Induction Radioactivity 

Nuclear Physics

Contents

    Rutherford's experiment
    The diameter of a nucleus
    Activity and half-life
    Radioactivity
    Radioactivity series
POWERED BY
    Energy-mass equivalence
    Binding energy
    Mass defect
    Binding energy per nucleon and nuclear stability
    Fission and fusion
    Thermal nuclear reactor
    Safety features of a thermal nuclear reactor
    Radioactive waste

9 August 1945 - Atom bomb over Nagasaki

Rutherford's Experiment
Debate about the structure of the atom was put to rest after Ernest Rutherford's famous gold leaf experiment in
1911. Rutherford red a stream of positively charged alpha particles towards a thin lm of gold that was only a few
atoms thick. He foudn that most of the alpha particles went straight through, suggesting that the majority of the
atom is empty space.

Some of the alpha particles de ected marginally and others bounced back towards the source of the alpha particles.
This suggsted that there was a small concentration of positive charge in the centre of a mostly empty atom. The
centre of the atom became known as the nucleus, where almost all of the mass of an atom resides (this is, of course,
excluding the small amounts of mass from electrons).

The image below shows the paths that alpha particles have taken when passing by a nucleus. The closer to the
nucleus the more the alpha particle is de ected. Moving towards the nucleus head on the alpha particle bounces
directly back to the source.

The Diameter of a Nucleus

There are a number of ways of estimating the size of the nucleus.

A high energy beam of electrons is directed at an element (p.d. ~100MV). The de Broglie wavelength of such a beam
is around 10^-15m (roughly the diameter of a nucleus). A detector can  be used to measure the angle at which the
electrons are di racted. Di raction pattern determines the space in between nuclei; thus the nuclear radius can be
measured.

The nuclear radius, R, can be shown that it depends on the nucleon number, A, in the following relationship:

Where r0 = 1.05 fm.

It makes sense for R to be proportional to A^(1/3) because the volume of the nucleus depends on the amount of
nucleons inside:

The following 2 graphs can be drawn using the equation above.

Activity and Half-Life

When an atom decays via α or β the proton number changes, changing the element. The mass of a radioactive
isotope decreases over time because of this decay.

Activity, A  = the number of nuclei of the isotope that decay per second (measured in
Becquerel, Bq). 
A radioactive isotope may emit energy (photons) of a speci c energy, E, each day. The power (energy transferred per
second) from a radioactive source = AE. This is because A is the number of decays per second. 

Half life, t½ = the time taken for the mass of the isotope to decrease to half the initial
mass, or, time taken for the activity to half (measured in seconds/hours/years, etc.) 

The number
represents how
many half lives
have passed.

Thanks Wikipedia

It is impossible to predict which individual nucleus will decay in a sample. Every nucleus has the same starting
probability. This is to do with the random nature of decay. However, macroscopically (and with enough particles in
our sample) we can say with assurance that half of the particles will decay over a period of one half life.

Consider a sample of a radioactive isotope, X, that initially contains N0 nuclei. In time Δt the number of radioactive
nuclei decrease by ΔN. ΔN is proportional to: 
                            • N, the number of nuclei X remaining at time t. 
                            • The duration of the time interval Δt.
Therefore:

Where λ is known as the decay constant (it is negative to show that the number of nuclei decreases).

Rearrange the equation above:

The activity, A, is the rate of disintegration:

The solution to these equation is attained through integration (see capacitor decay derivation, its almost identical in
this respect):

and equally...

Where e^-λt is an exponential function.

The following equation can be changed by taking

the natural logs (ln) of each side.

The log of two multiplied numbers is the log of

one  plus the log of the other. In this case the
above equation becomes:

This is the equation for a straight line graph.

When  we plot a graph of ln(N) against time, t, the
gradient = -λ, and the y-intercept is ln(N0)

Where N0 is the number of un-decayed particles in

the initial sample.

The decay constant, λ  (s^(-1)) = the probability of an individual nucleus decaying per
second.
e.g. if there are 10000 nuclei present and 300 decay in 20 seconds, the decay constant is (300/10000)/20 =
0.0015s^-1.

Half-Life Equation
At time t=0, N=N0. At time T = t½ , N = 0.5N0. Substitute this into N=N0e^(-λt):

The following logarithmic rules were used in this

derivation:

ln(e^x) = x

ln(x^y) = yln(x)

This leads to the general form of the equation for half life:

Radioactivity
Unstable isotopes will decay into more stable forms. The 3 modes of decay are alpha, beta and gamma.

In a magnetic eld charged particles will be de ected due to the Lorentz force. Alpha will de ect less than beta if
they are travelling at the same speed (see magnetism). Gamma is an EM wave and therefore carries no charge; it is
una ected by a magnetic eld.

The intensity of gamma rays decreases by the inverse square of the distance from the source. Meaning that if you
double your distance from a gamma ray source (assuming it emits uniformly over a sphere) the intensity drops to by
a quarter. Below is a useful diagram that demonstrates this principle:

This rule is true for almost all point sources of light/EM waves. Lasers are the exception, they can retain their
intensity over large distances.

The table below gives a few more common  particle interactions:

Perhaps un-intuatively, atoms do not have the same

number of protons as neutrons. In fact, as atoms get
larger they tend to increase the number of neutrons at a
greater rate than protons. This is because adding
protons to an atom gets more and more di cult due to
electromagnetic repulsion. If the atom is large enough
(greater than the range of the strong nuclear force) it
becomes more and more di cult to add protons as the
atom gets bigger.

The graph opposite gives an idea of what types of atoms

will decay by which means.

Blue line = neutron rich

Red line = proton rich

At the top of the blue line heavy atoms with a large

proportion of neutrons to  protons will best get rid of
their neutrons by emission of an alpha particle (this only
happens in heavier elements). Lower down the blue line
beta- occurs whereby neutrons decay into (the slightly
less massive) protons.

For atoms on the red line to become more stable they

need to get rid of their protons. This is achieved through
beta+ decay whereby protons turn into neutrons (see
table above).

This is a nuclear stability chart, placing all the isotopes in terms of their proton and neutron number. Note: the axes in this graph are reversed, compared to the one above.

Radioactivity Series
The chart opposite is a pictoral representation of an atom undergoing
several decays in series.

Metastable States
After alpha or beta decay a nucleus may emit a photon. This doesn’t
change the number of nucleons. Often after alpha or beta decay the
‘daughter’ nucleus is in an excited state that is short-lived. During de-
excitation it emits a photon. This is the gamma ray.

Energy-Mass Equivalence
Einstein's famous equation describes how energy, E, and mass, m are related, where c is the speed of light. The
equation shows how a small amount of mass can contain large amounts of energy within it due to this c^2
'conversion factor' being so large. If one was able to fully redeem the amount of energy equivalent to 100kg (as
given by the equation) it would satisfy the world's consumption of energy per year! Thats the mass of one 6ft man!

Binding Energy
The binding energy of a nucleus is the “work that must be done to separate a nucleus
into its constituent neutrons and protons”.
When a nucleus forms from nucleons, energy is released as the SNF does work pulling the nucleons together. The
energy released is equal to the binding energy of the nucleus. Because energy is released when a nucleus forms
from separate nucleons, the mass of a nucleus is less than the mass of the separate nucleons.

Mass Defect
Mass defect of nucleus, Δm = “di erence between the mass of separated nucleons and
the mass of the nucleus”. 

The binding energy of a nucleus, Ebind,  is calculated using the mass defect:

Binding Energy per Nucleon and Nuclear Stability

The binding energy per nucleon is the “average work done per nucleon to remove all the
nucleons from a nucleus”. It is a measure of the stability of a nucleus. 

The range of the strong nuclear force (SNF) is relatively small (~0.5 to 5fm). It is the strongest of the 4 fundamental
forces. Small atoms are held together by the SNF with the e ects electromagnetic (EM) repulsion being
negligible.  As the atom gets bigger than the range of the SNF then EM forces begin to take hold i.e. repulsion
between protons. This is why smaller atoms are more 'bound' i.e. more di cult to pull apart. Pulling the nucleons
apart requires a lot of energy, and likewise fusing nucleons to small atoms requires a lot of energy. This is why the
curve is much steeper at the 'fusion' part of the binding energy per nucleon curve. Fusing a proton to a hydrogen
atom releases a large amount of energy.  Conversely, the decay of a heavy element (e.g. uranium) only releases a
small amount of energy i.e. the energy change from U-238 to U-235 is very small compared to the energy change
from hydrogen to helium. Currently there is no energy e cient way to harness this fusion energy because it takes
too much energy to bring nucleons together in the rst place!

Fission and Fusion

Fission

The splitting of (heavy) atomic nuclei. This further

releases neutrons which are absorbed by neighbouring
atoms to make the process happen again in a chain
reaction. This process releases energy. In a nuclear
ssion reactor the chain reaction is often started using a
neutron gun. In order for the chain reaction not to get
out of control 'control rods' are used to moderate the
number of reactions by absorbing some neutrons.

Nuclear fission chain reaction.

First atom bomb dropped on a

city = Hiroshima in 1945 to
essentially end World War II.
Approximately 200,000 people
were killed.

Fusion
Fusion is the joining of atomic (usually hydrogen) nuclei, releasing energy. The process by which this happens is quite
complicated. One of the ways in which helium is formed is via the following process:

The energy released at each stage can be calculated using the mass defect, Δm i.e. the mass lost as energy
(E=Δmc^2) in the reaction. The nal stage releases ~12.9MeV of energy.

Thermal Nuclear Reactor

Fuel rods are made of enriched uranium. U-235 is ssionable where as U-238 isn't. Natural uranium contains
99% of U-238 whereas enriched uranium contains about 98% U-235.
Neutrons are injected into the reactor to begin the ssion reactions in the fuel rods (made of enriched
uranium). These neutrons need to be slowed down in water (the 'moderator') in order that they are the correct
speed to be absorbed by the fuel rods.  These neutrons are called 'thermal neutrons' because they are in
thermal equilibrium with the water surrounding them, its not to do with heat.
A chain reaction in the fuel rods releases many neutrons. Some of these are absorbed by the fuel rods. The fuel
rods can be raised and lowered in order to moderate the chain reaction and to ensure that the chain reaction
doesn't get dangerously out of control.

Safety Features of a Thermal Nuclear Reactor

Steel - withstand high pressures and temperatures and can absorb alpha, beta and neutrons.
Concrete - absorbs neutrons and gamma.
Control rods - can be raised and lowered to control rate of neutron production (and thus ssion reactions).
Fuel rods - when removed they are radioactive and are therefore only handled  remotely.

Radioactive Waste
Radioactive  waste most commonly comes from nuclear power
stations, specialist research, industry or hospitals. Radioactive
waste can be categorized  in the following 3 ways according to
their activity:

1) High-level radioactive waste: Spent fuel rods from nuclear

power stations. Must be removed by remote control and placed in
ponds to cool for up to a year. Then stored in large steel
containers where and processed for remaining useful materials.
The rest is stored deep underground in sealed containers,
potentially for centuries. There are many long term problems with
this...

2) Intermediate-level waste:  Specialist radioactive materials with

low activity. Sealed in drums in encased concrete, stored in
buildings of reinforced concrete.

3) Lower-level waste: Lab equipment and contaminated clothing.

Sealed and stored in trenches.