Chapter 21 

CH 182 

 
Major Concepts: 

 Reactions that involve changes in atomic nuclei are called nuclear reactions.  These sorts 
of reactions involve breaking up the nucleus through either particle bombardment or 
through spontaneous decay. 
 
 Neutron to proton ration is an important factor in determining nuclear stability 
 
 The energy produced in nuclear reactions is accompanied by measureable changes in 
mass in accordance to Einstein’s relationship;  E = mc2 
  

1
21.1 Radioactivity

When nuclei change spontaneously, emitting energy, they are said to be radioactive.

Nuclear chemistry is the study of nuclear reactions and their uses.

Nucleons are particles in the nucleus:

• p+: proton

• n0: neutron

• Atomic number is the number of p+.

• Mass number is the number of p+ + n0.

• The mass number is the total number of nucleons in the nucleus.

Isotopes have the same number of p+ but different numbers of n0.

• Different isotopes of the same element are distinguished by their mass numbers.

• Different isotopes have different natural abundances.

A radionuclide is a radioactive nucleus.

• Atoms containing these nuclei are called radioisotopes.

2
Nuclear Equations

Most nuclei are stable.

• Radionuclides are unstable and spontaneously emit particles and/or electromagnetic

radiation.

• Example: Uranium-238 is radioactive.

• It emits alpha () particles.

• These are helium-4 particles.

When a nucleus spontaneously decomposes in this manner, we say it has decayed (radioactive
decay).

In nuclear equations, the total number of nucleons is conserved.

238
92 U 23490Th+ 42 He
• We can represent the uranium-238 decay by the following nuclear equation:
• The total number of protons and neutrons before a nuclear reaction must be the same as the
total number of nucleons after the reaction.

Practice Questions

(1) What is produced when radium-226 undergoes alpha decay?

(2) Which element undergoes alpha decay to form lead-208?

3
Types of Radioactive Decay

• There are three types of radiation which we will consider

• -Radiation is the loss of (alpha particles) 4

2 He from the nucleus.

• -Radiation is the loss of an electron from the nucleus.

• These high-speed electrons are called beta particles.

• -Radiation is the loss of high-energy photons from the nucleus.

Nucleons can undergo two other types of decay:

• positron emission
• A positron is a particle with the same mass as an electron but with the opposite sign.

• electron capture

• The nucleus captures an electron from the electron cloud surrounding the nucleus.

Nucleons can undergo decay:

• (β-emission)
1
0 n 11 p+ -01 e

• (positron annihilation)
0
1 e 01 e 2 00 

• (positron or β+-emission)
1 1 0
1 p 0 n+ 1 e

• (electron capture)
1 0 1
1 p  1 e 0 n

4
Practice Questions

(1) Write the nuclear equations for the following processes:

a. Mercury-201 undergoes electron capture

b. Thorium-231 decays to form protactinium-231

5
 (2) Write a balanced nuclear equation for the reaction in which oxygen-15 undergoes
positron emission

21.2 Patterns of Nuclear Stability

Neutron-to-Proton Ratio

The proton has high mass and high charge. Therefore, the proton-proton repulsion is large.

In the nucleus the protons are very close to each other.

The cohesive forces in the nucleus are called strong nuclear forces.
• Neutrons are involved with the strong nuclear force.

As more protons are added (the nucleus gets heavier) the proton-proton repulsion gets larger.
• Therefore, the heavier the nucleus, the more are neutrons required for stability.

The belt of stability is the portion of a graph of (number of protons) vs. (number of neutrons) that
contains all stable nuclei.

• All nuclei with 84 or more protons are radioactive.

• Nuclei above the belt of stability undergo -emission.

• An 0 e is lost; the number of neutrons decreases and the number of protons increases.
-1

• Nuclei below the belt of stability undergo -emission or electron capture.

• This results in the number of neutrons increasing and the number of protons decreasing.

• Nuclei with atomic numbers greater than 83 usually undergo α - emission.

• The number of protons and neutrons decreases (in steps of 2).

6
 The belt of stability
The number of neutrons is graphed versus the number of protons for each stable nuclei. As the
atomic number increases, the neutron-to-proton ratio of the stable nuclei increases. The stable
nuclei are located in the shaded area of the graph known as the belt of stability. The majority of
radioactive nuclei occur outside this belt.

7
 Radioactive Series

A nucleus usually undergoes more than one transition on its path to stability.

The series of nuclear reactions that accompany this path is the radioactive series, or the nuclear
disintegration series.

Nuclear disintegration series for uranium-238

The uranium-238 nucleus decays to 23490 Th. Subsequent decay processes eventually form stable
206
82 Pb nucleus. Each diagonal arrow corresponds to the loss of an alpha particle; each
horizontal arrow corresponds to the loss of a beta particle.

8
Practice Questions

(1) Predict the mode of decay: (a) carbon-14, (b) xenon-118

(2) Predict the mode of decay of: (a) plutonium-239, (b) indium-120

Further Observations

Magic numbers are 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, or 82 protons or 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, or 126 neutrons.

• Nuclei with a “magic number” of nucleons are more stable than nuclei that do not have the magic
number of nucleons.

• The magic numbers correspond to filled, closed-shell nucleon configurations.

Nuclei with even numbers of protons and neutrons are more stable than nuclei with any odd numbers
of nucleons.

• The shell model of the nucleus rationalizes these observations.

• The shell model of the nucleus is similar to the shell model for the atom.

• Pairs of protons and neutrons in the nucleus are analogous to pairs of electrons in the atom.

Practice Questions
4 40 98
(1) Which of the following nuclei are especially stable: 2He, 20Ca, 43Tc?

118
(2) Which of the following nuclei would you expect to exhibit a special stability: 50Sn,
210 208
85At, 82Pb?

9
21.3 Nuclear Transmutations

Nuclear transmutations are nuclear reactions resulting from the collisions between nuclei or
between a nucleus and a neutron.

Using Charged Particles

For example, nuclear transmutations can occur using high-velocity α-particles:

14
N + 4  17O + 1H

In short-hand notation the preceding reaction is written as 14N(α,p)17O.

Practice Questions

(1) Write the balanced nuclear equation for the process summarized as 2713Al (n, α) 2411Na.

(2) Using a shorthand notation, write the nuclear reaction:

16 1 13 4
8 O + 1H  7 N + 2 He

10
Accelerating Charged Particles

To overcome electrostatic forces, charged particles need to be accelerated before they react.

• Particle accelerators (atom smashers, cyclotrons, synchnotrons) are used to accelerate particles
using strong magnetic and electrostatic fields.

• A cyclotron consists of D-shaped electrodes (dees) with a large circular magnet above and below
the chamber.

• Particles enter the vacuum chamber and are accelerated as the dees are alternately made positive
and negative.

• The magnets above and below the dees keep the particles moving in a spiral path.

• When the particles are moving at a sufficient velocity they are allowed to escape the cyclotron
and strike the target.

• The circumference of the ring at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Chicago is 6.3 km.

A cyclotron
Using Neutrons

Most synthetic isotopes used in medicine and research are made using neutrons as projectiles.

An example is the preparation of cobalt-60 for use in cancer radiation therapy.

Transuranium elements follow uranium in the periodic table.

11
21.4 Rates of Radioactive Decay

Radioactive decay is a first-order process.

Each isotope has a characteristic half-life.

• Half-lives are not affected by temperature, pressure or chemical composition.

• Natural radioisotopes tend to have longer half-lives than synthetic radioisotopes.

• Half-lives range from fractions of a second to millions of years.

• Naturally occurring radioisotopes can be used to determine the age of a sample.

• This process is radioactive dating.

Decay of a 10.0 g sample of strontium-90 (t1/2 = 28.8 yr)

12
Practice Questions

(1) The half-life of cobalt-60 is 5.3 yr. How much of a 1.000 mg sample of cobalt-60 is left
after a 15.9 yr period?

(2) Carbon-11, used in medical imaging, has a half-life of 20.4 min. The carbon-11 nuclides
are formed and the carbon atoms are then incorporated into an appropriate compound.
The resulting sample is injected into a patient, and the medical image is obtained. If the
entire process takes five half-lives, what percentage of the original carbon-11 remains at
this time?

13
Dating

Carbon-14 (14C) is used to determine the ages of organic compounds because half-lives are constant.

For 14C to be detected, the object must be less than 50,000 years old.

• We assume that the ratio of 12C to 14C has been constant over time.

• The half-life of 14C is 5,715 years.

14
• C undergoes decay to 14N via -decay:

14 14 0
6 C 7 N+ -1 e

Other dating methods are also used.

• Uranium-lead dating has been used to estimate the age of the Earth at approximately 4.0 billion
years.

Calculations Based on Half-life

Radioactive decay is a first-order process:

Rate = kN

• If the activity of a sample at time = t is Nt, and the activity at time = 0 is N0, then:
Nt
ln   kt
No

• The half-life of the sample is given by:

0.693
t 12 
k

• In radioactive decay the constant, k, is called the decay constant.

• The rate of decay is called activity (disintegrations per unit time).

There are several units used to express activity or radioactivity.

• The becquerel (Bq) is the SI unit of radioactivity.

• 1 Bq = 1 disintegration per second (dps).

• The Curie (Ci) is an older, but still very widely used, unit of activity.
• 1 Ci = 3.7 x 1010 disintegrations per second.

14
Practice Questions

(1) A rock contains 0.257 mg of lead-206 for every milligram of uranium-238. The half-life
for the decay of uranium-238 to lead-206 is 4.5 x 109 yr. How old is the rock?

(2) A wooden object from an archeological site is subjected to radiocarbon dating. The
activity of the sample that is due to 14C is measured to be 11.6 disintegrations per second.
The activity of a carbon sample of equal mass from fresh wood is 15.2 disintegrations per
second. The half-life of 14C is 5715 yr. What is the age of the archeological sample?

15
(3) If we start with 1.000 g of strontium-90, 0.953 g will remain after 2.00 yr
a. What is the half-life of strontium-90?
b. How much strontium-90 will remain after 5.00 yr?
c. What is the initial activity of the sample in Bq and in Ci?

(4) A sample to be used for medical imaging is labeled with 18F, which has a half-life of 110
min. What percentage of the original activity in the sample remains after 300 min?

16
21.6 Energy Changes in Nuclear Reactions

Einstein showed that mass and energy are proportional:

E = mc2

• If a system loses mass, it loses energy (exothermic).

• If a system gains mass, it gains energy (endothermic).

Since c2 is a large number, small changes in mass cause large changes in energy.

Mass and energy changes in nuclear reactions are much greater than in chemical reactions.

Consider:
238
92 U 23490Th+ 42 He

For 1 mol of 238

U, the masses are:
92

238.0003 g  233.9942 g + 4.0015 g.

• The change in mass during the reaction is:

233.9942 g + 4.0015 g  238.0003 g = 0.0046 g

• The process is exothermic because the system has lost mass.

• To calculate the energy change per 238

U mole of :
92

 
E   mc2  c 2 m

 1 kg 

E  2.9979108 m/s  0.0046g
2
 
 1000g 
kg m2 11
E  4.110 2
 4.11011 J
s

17
Practice Questions

(1) How much energy is lost or gained when a mole of cobalt-60 undergoes beta decay?
The mass of the 6027 Co atom is 59.933819 amu, and that of a 6028Ni atom is 59.930788
amu.

(2) Positron emission from 11C, 116C  115 B + 01 e, occurs with release of 2.87 x 1011 J per
mole of 11C. What is the mass change per mole of 11C in this nuclear reaction?

18
 Nuclear Binding Energies

The mass of a nucleus is less than the mass of its nucleons.

• Mass defect is the difference in mass between the nucleus and the masses of its nucleons.

• Nuclear binding energy is the energy required to separate a nucleus into its nucleons.

• Since E = mc2, the binding energy is related to the mass defect.

The larger the binding energy, the more likely a nucleus is to decompose.

Heavy nuclei gain stability by splitting into smaller nuclei.

• They give off energy if fragmented into two mid-sized nuclei.

• This reaction is called fission.

Very light nuclei are combined or fused together to form more massive nuclei.

• Energy is released from this nuclear fusion.

Nuclear binding energies

The average binding energy per nucleon increases to a maximum at a mass number of 50 to 60
and decreases slowly thereafter. As a result of these trends, fusion of light nuclei and fission of
heavy nuclei are exothermic processes.

19