sTRUCTURE OF THE NUCLEUS ists Of a positively ch: Anatom consists of a po: y charged n “pie or more negatively charged electrons. The tate ba EYE clowsd of the atom is electrically neutral. The nucleus ig ae eel and chnged_protonsand_electrially Teutral neltrone whee! jogether t which und rogerner OY Pee areas forces. These are short ange rR off very rapidly as the distance tween the particles increases. Th i which make up the nucleus are called collectively nucleons ——_ “The radius of a nucleus is incredibly small, roughly 10-'Sm. Nuclear distances are measured in femtometres (1fm = 10-' m). (Most atoms are 1-2A. ie. 1-2 x 107 ‘Om in radius, The nucleus of ‘oxygen, for example, has a radius of 2.5 fm.) To get some feel for how small the nucleus really is, imagine the nucleus measures 1cm in diameter. On the same scale the diameter of the atom would be about 1000m. Most of the mass of an atom is concentrated in the nucleus. As a result its density is very high, approxi- mately 2.4 x 10'*gcm? or about 10! times the density of the densest element iridium (22.61 g cm~*). The atomic nurnber Z of an element is the number of protons in the nucleus. This is equal to the number of orbital electrons round the atom. The mass number A is the sum of the neutrons and protons in the nucleus. Liquid drop model ‘The nucleus is sometimes described in terms of a ae drop’. . small liquid drop is almost spherical. It is held together by short range forces ~ the aster to eee ers Molecules at the edge of the drop feel the attractive force on one side only: this is the surface tension effect. A large liquid drop becomes elongated, and needs only a little disturbance to make it break into pieces. In a similar way a nucleus is held together by short range forces (the exchange of m mesons), The aries a ‘ena e nuclei are spherical. As the mass nucl between protons increases more rapidly thanof even atomic numb, ; rear = Stable isotopes jee tishisr in i sai ctv erage 5.7. Sotopes and never ha ave Only one stable isotope gacTents with od T have a id at a lomic ind Never have'more ‘is a tendency for the numb, re in the nucleus to be even ( T Of neut TON: Table enh Ss and the Number of a 3.1 The number of neutrons, Protons and stable nucle i protons Number of neutrons Number of o « , Stable isotopes Even Odd ee Even 0 Odd 4 nucleons may be paired in the nucleus in a similar way I is in atomic and molecular orbitals. If two protons s, the magnetic fields they produce will mutually ‘small amount of binding energy generated is leus. However, this is not the most important -stabl le, and this is attributable to a filled shell. 26 neutrons oF proto particularly of isotopes. These rmed bi both the number of protons and the tumbers the nucleus is very stable. For g2 protons, and 208 d by the 1¢ rg readily expla! YY one fal * a lower nuclear energy free to move nucleons are Seasons exist in enersy levels. G Be sal a containing WO. obIRaEnd on the charge as the same attractivg The attractive force does not depe' fons and neutrons 19 force binds protons to protons, protons to neut neutrons. Two atoms may be held together by a sharing of electrons, because the exchange forces result in a covalent bond. By analogy, two nuclear particles may be held together by sharing a particle. The particle exchanged is called a n meson. Mesons may have positive charge x*, q negative charge n™ or no charge n’, Exchange of m and m* mesons accounts for the binding energy between neutrons and protons, The transfer of a charge converts a neutron to a proton or vice versa. The resultant attractive forces are indicated by dotted lines in the examples below. me Ps yan= P 2 ‘A x° meson is exchanged between two protons or between two neutrons, P. The attractive forces between p-n, nn, and p=p, are probably all similar in strength. The different types of mesons have similar masses. The mass of a x" meson is 264 times that of an electron and the masses of both x” and i> mesons are 273 times that of an electron, All mesons are very unstableMODES OF DECAY) a — 1). panes with still higher atomic numbers, the e 50 large they undergo spontaneous fission, These a the graphs of neutron number N t proton ratio against proton number for the stable nucleiip + Ye in + v io. Usually i: : FACLETISHIG Xetaduation As fe isnot common. It occurs in nuclei where the N/P us has insufficient energy for positron emission. V. Some examples are: BBe + Ye YLi + v WK + He WA + v ‘mass of parent and daughter nuclet is equivalent to 1.02MeV for positron emission, both positron (sm) ae ari Ri = ‘change, the neutrons and protons ie “their most stable positions. The newly sted ae, ‘and has a higher energy rearrange tht q smselvesSte An ar any constant for the process, which indicates how ry ing. (A has the units time” 1.) it is usual to quote are the The two are related, Integra ng he decay constant, from time = 0 to time = ¢ gives; Ais the decay sample is decay’ half life rather than t ‘equation (31,1) between limits hoe no where mp is the original number of nuclei at time 0, and n the py remaining at time f. The half life fz is the time taken for the numba of radioactive nuclei to fall to half the original number, that is tg n= 4ng, Since there is no Way ‘of counting the number of radioactive nyc: is way. However, we can substitute: e present, we cannot calculate Ain this » K activity at time = 0 (Ao) and the activity at time = (A) for the number, a atoms. The activity can be measured and is the number of counts recorded in a fixed time on a Geiger counter or a scintillation counter. Thus we caq evaluate 1: Ate eval Ap te a Taking natural logarithms of both sides of the equation =A = In) In(4)__, 0.693 hh = t= + lence ie L. + X Nuclear energies are of the order of 10°kJmol~' of nucleons, 1 a )- 10? kJ molject ons. The difference is called the m fed to the binding energy ho ass defect, Th toe nucleus. A stable ies ae eUlrOns and protons together cy gasticles oF it would not form, Ne less eneray than its conse it peng an mas are related by the Einstein equati were SE i ‘energy liberated, Am the loss in muss (ie nes doen and ¢ the velocity of Tight (2.998 x 10%m 5-1), ane (the mass defect) atfeulated, and converted to the binding energy in the nucleus, The tage, leus. The larger the mass defect, the larger the bindir Be mules, Ing energy, and therefore the more rela Mass of {p = 1.007277 a.m.u., Mass of {n = {31 is the conversion factor from ee ee ds 9 V) mu. to Me ‘Mass of $He nucleus = 4.0028 amu | Mass of $Li nucleus Mass of 2n + 2p = 4.0319 Ma: = ss of 3n + 3 “Mass eee gp 1.0291 Mass defect 2 Binding energy Binding energy = 0.0291 x 931 = yey 0.0327 x 931 = 28.7MeV. 4 or 2.6 x 10’kJ mol"! or 2.8 x 10°kJ mol" calculate whether a nucleus is stable against decay. Some SLi— fn + $Li SLi— |p + 3He SLi $He + 7H ‘the mass of the parent is less than the ‘products. Thus none of the above decay “the nucleus increases with the number of the stability of nucle of different elements r nucleon: total binding ene Jeon = number of nucleons ‘atomic number, for the her with increasing achBinding energy per nucteon (Mev) 100 150 200 20 Mass number Figure 31.2 Binding energy per nucleon forces are unable to hold the nucleons together. Thus part of the nucleys breaks off. An a particle is emitted from the nucleus, An a particle jy 4 “helium nucleus He. This is a particularly stable nuclear fragment, as all “the nucleons aré in the lowest possible energy level. and both the number of neutrons and the number of protons are magic numbers. At the same time energy is liberated. In the decay of *V3U. 4.2McV of enerpy is released because the mean binding energy per nucleon of the two daughter mlicléi *84Th and $He is greater than for the parent nucleus *}SU. This isan ‘enormous amount of energy (1 MeV = 96.48 x 10°kJ mol”!) {NSU — 7yiTh + 3He + energy 2Po > 28Pb + $He + energy pha particles have no electron cloud, and have a charge of +2. Once emitted, ana particle quickly takes up two electrons from any atom in the vicinity. thus becoming a neutral He atom. The formation of He can be detect decay.occurs. ces the mass of the parent nucleus must provide both the mass of the daughter nucleus and that of the a particle, plus the small amount of mass which is converted into energy, It can be calculated from the mass of the nucleus whether a decay in any element is energetically possible. Natural @ activity is only possible among elements with mass numbers greater than 209, as only these elements have the required energy. Conversely 209s the largest number of nucleons which will fit into a stable nucleus. If ejection of one a particle does not completely stabilize the nucleus then further @ particles may be emitted. However, a decay raises the NIP by.Bemission, tT above 230 may undergo spontancous fission, forming two lighter nuclei. Thus two elements of lower atomic number areThis reaction was first carried out by E. Rutherford in 1919, and this ya, the first induced nuclear transformation. (He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1908.) The second example was carried Out in 1932 by F Joliot and Irene Joliot Curie and is an (a, n) reaction. (They were awardeg the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1935.) iiAl Ina similar way the third example is a (p.n) reaction, In the last example the energy is emitted as y rays, and so this is an (n. 7) reaction. The nucle, formed in this way may be stable. or may subsequently decay. The transuranic elements are all obtained by bombarding a heavy nucleus with @ particles. stripped carbon. or the nucicr of other light atoms to produce an even heavier nucleus. NUCLEAR FISSION Very heavy nuclei have a lower binding energy per nucleon than nucle} with an intermediate mass. Thus nuclei of intermediate mass are more stable than heavy nuclei. When a slow neutron enters a nucleus of a fissionable atom such as uranium (which is already distorted) the extra energy may cause the nucleus to split into two fragments and spon- taneously emit two or more neutrons. This is called fission. The fission process results in the release of large amounts of energy (about 8 * 10°ki mol~!), In the case of *)5U, several different primary fission products are formed, depending on exactly how the nucleus splits up. Three of the more common reactions are: Ba + WKr + 2(hn) su + in Gly + BY + 3(in) Nitics +Rb + 4(4n) Note that the daughter nuclei formed fall into two classes. The heavier group have masses from 130 to 160, and the lighter group have masses from 80 to 110. It is rare for the two daughter nuclei of about the same mass be formed (Figure 31.3). The total mass of the fission products is some 0.22 mass units less than the mass of the uranium atom and neutron. This corresponds to an energy release of over 200MeV. This is more than twelve times the energy liberated in a normal nuclear reaction. The complete fission of 1 Ib (0.45 kg) of uranium releases as much energy as the explosion of 8000 tonnes of TNT. ‘The nuclei formed as primary fission products have a high neutron 10 proton ratio, and decay by (§ emission to lower this ratio. Usually several such steps are required before a stable nucleus is obtained. Thus each 0 the primary decay products is associated with a decay chain. for 733Np ——> *jaPu iqaasmin uatdday Alll isotopes of Pu are fissile, and Pu became important as a nuclear fue) Work on plutonium was mainly carried out at Hanford. Bomb making A third site at Los Alamos (New Mexico) concentrated mainly on the technical problems of how to make bombs. The problems are how to transport sub-critical masses of Pu or U in an aeroplane, and combine them to give a critical mass when over the target. Then the material must be contained for a long enough time for the nuclear reaction to occur. In the case of the Pu bomb an implosion device was used. Several sub- critical masses of "Pu were placed round the edges of a sphere and sur- rounded by high explosives. The conventional explosives were detonated The implosion blew the sub-critical masses of Pu into the centre where they formed a critical mass. The force of the explosion held the Pu together for Jong enough for a nuclear explosion to occur. The first atomic bomb used this principle and was tested on a 100-foot-high tower at Trinity in New Mexico at 5.29 a.m. (just before sunrise) on 16 July 1945. It worked! Fermi estimated that the témperature.produced was four times that at the centre of the sun, and a pressure of over 100 billion atmospheres was produced. The radioactivity emitted was a million times greater than from the world’s total radium supply. Parts for another similar atomic bomb were shipped to the Far East ta be assembled and dropped on Japan. Meanwhile sufficient *“U to make a bomb had laboriously been: collected. The most practical way to make a bomb was to use a gun barrel, and shoot a sub-critical mass of 7*U down the barrel into another sub- critical mass at the end of the barrel. This had not been tested, since up till then there had not been enough *“U for a test. Parts to assemble this bomb were shipped to the Far East. The Pu bomb was called "Fat Man’. and was 10) feet 8 inches long and 60 inches in diameter. and weighed 10800 1b, The bomb was so wide that the doors on the bomb bay of the aeroplane had to be altered to get the bomb in and to allow it to be dropped. The U bomb was called “Little Boy’ and was 10 feet long, but only 28 inches in diameter, and weighed 8900Ib- The smaller diameter allowed it to fit in the aeroplane. and made it possible 10 use the U bomb first. ‘The U bomb ‘Little Boy’ was dropped on Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.“Vv SEEM POWER STATIONS The yield was equivalent 19 13 kilotonnes of TNT. Four square miles were ated, and there were 70 000 immediate deaths. On 9 August 1945 the se fol eat Marwan dropped on he wasaki. The yield was equivalent to 23 kilotonnes of TNT. Two square miles were devastated. and there were 45000 immediate fatalities. NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS ‘A nuclear power station consists of a nuclear chain reaction occurs using either U or extracted from the reactor and used 1 turbine and produces electricity. The e: Feactor in which a controlled Pu as fuel, The heat produced is }© generate steam, which drives a arliest nuclear reactors were built to irradiate U and produce plutonium for bombs, and for experimental The first commercial nuclear power station was commissioned in 1956 at Calder Hall (Cumberland. UK). to 100) tees Plants in the USA and over 400 in the rest of the world. France produces two thirds of its electricity from nuclear plants. 13]arly ranium metal. Most thermal reactors now use Uo, i Caries ia point and is less Sees Natural (; may be used as fuel (99.3% *U and 0.7% Wi) Hotever, 8 ius enrich the fuel to between 2% and 3% 7°U ie va o ore being absorbed by the metal case cladding ms se Aes the moderator. Enriching U reduces the critical mass, ar hence the 28 of hg reactor. However, it is very ey eh Hee nie ot military purposes ~ to make bombs or for special sma 90% as fuel . Fast (breeder) reactors use plutonium oxide as fuel. They have no moderator, so the fast neutrons produced can convert non-fissile "LY jni fissile Pu by the reactions: 24U + jn — 7g3U + ¥ AYU — UINp + Te 2{RINp— Pu + —le More Pu is produced than is used: hence the name ‘breeder reactor" Sometimes thorium (which is non-fissile) is incorporated into the fuel When this is irradiated with fast neutrons, the isotope 233U is formed, and this is fissionable by slow neutrons. 2HU + in— Th + y AyTh — *y/Pa + —Te 2yyPa — 7330 + te TYPES OF REACTOR IN USE Gas cooled thermal reactors (all use graphite as moderator) Magnox reactors ‘These use U metal rods as fuel, enclosed in a Mg/Al (magnox) casing. The fuel is natural, i.e. not enriched. and CO, gas is used as the coolant. Most of the early reactors in the UK are of this type. These are now nearing the end of their life. Advanced gas cooled reactors (AGR) These use UO; pellets enriched to 2% as fuel. with CO) as the coolant. High temperature reactor (HTR) These are used for military pu "poses such as submarines, The fuel is UC. which is enriched to over 90%., thus allowing the reactor to be small, The coolant is He, and the control rods are made of Cd. ~elements combine to form heavier elements. The binding energy pe, nucleon for light elements is less than that for elements of intermediate mass. Thus the fusion of two light nuclei results in a more stable nucteyy and a large amount of energy is liberated. Both fusion and fission arg methods of releasing large amounts of energy. In fusion, light atoms are combined to give heavier elements, whilst in fission heavy radioactiy, atoms are split into atoms of intermediate mass. The simplest nuclear fusion reaction involves the isotopes of hydrogen deuterium 7H and tritium }H. A large amount of energy is required to ‘overcome the repulsion between the positively charged nuclei to get them close enough (1-2fm) to react. One way of producing high energy par. ticles is an accelerator. This is not appropriate in this case. The other way to produce high energy nuclei is to raise them to a vary high temperature (roughly 10°K). If deuterium and tritium are heated to a temperature of over a million degrees a gas plasma is produced. (A plasma is a fourth state ‘of matter, which is composed essentially of gaseous ions and a matrix of free electrons.) Since the atoms have been stripped of their electrons, collisions will be between nuclei. Some nuclear collisions will occur with enough energy for the nuclei to approach closely enough to experience each others’ strong attraction, and a fusion reaction occurs. The mass lost in this reaction is converted into energy according to Einstein’s equation E= me. 7H + 7H — 3He + én + energy This fusion reaction has a relatively low ignition temperature, and produces a large amount of energy. Deuterium is available from natural sources, but tritium is difficult to obtain and is extremely expensive. Tritium could be generated in a fusion reactor by bombarding a blanket of lithium with neutrons: jn + SLi 7H + $He on + 3Li— 7H + $He + in Similar reactions are carried out using only deuterium, but these reactions require a temperature of several million degrees. Several reactions could occur, of which the simplest are: 7H + jH— 7}H_ + }H + 4.0MeV energy 7H + jH — 3He + {n + 3.3MeV energy Fusion is in principle a thermal reaction not inherently different in its kindling from an ordinary fire. Unlike fission, it does not require a critical mass. Once ignited its extent depends on the amount of fuel available. However, for fusion to occur, extreme physical conditions must be achieved: 1. A very high temperature must be attained. 2. Sufficient plasma density is required.3. The plasma must be confined fo "7 io ned for an adequ: quate time to allow fusion These and other ‘hydro, i gen burning” proc : . : 2 sun. This ssi the enormous amount of ee at the centre of the to earth and the rest of the solar system energy which is radiated Thermonuclear weapons fusion i The only bec Dac ar fave oraed ‘on earth have been the hydrogen 3 mi lcar weapons, ies ue required to bring about Bh oe ace sah about by means of a small uranium fission Re tan é ve of lighter elements (o 4 sufficiently high ab Os ion reactions in the hydrogen and nitrogen CS rmonuclear reactions. The first thermonuclear nated at Eniwetoc in 1952. The energy yield is 100 times that from an atomic bomb using U or Pu fission. The complete nuclei in 1lb (0.4kg) of deuterium would result in the same as 26000 tonnes of TNT. reactions s have been made to build apparatus in which controlled ‘ill occur. So far none have been successful. The problem If the plasma touches @ (e.g. 8 ‘cools down rapidly. The ice a moving al ‘can be contained inside a doughnut pottle’. (The ‘extremely high magnetic fields required are conducting niobium/titanium yl Inertial confinement involves fuel container to ‘make the fuel so dense that the atively laser fusion can be used, when high used to heat ‘and compress small ‘pellets’ i ifferent t fusion mA) be achieved by some totally dif ite plasma to Heat the high energy conditions. There 1989 when Fleischmann and Pons claimed jaboral University of Utah, .O made con-— ae Another interesting technique which may show promise is to replace + electron in a Dj molecule by a negatively charged muon which weighs 297 times as much as an electron, This should reduce the D-D Spacing bya factor of 200 which should make fusion easier Nuclear fusion holds the promise of being an important future source of energy. World energy consumption is high, and fuel resources are finite and limited. Oil and natural gas reserves may well be exhausted in 0 years. Coal may last rather longer. perhaps 200 years. Uranium resources are finite, and the use of nuclear powered electricity generating stations will only delay an eventual energy shortfall. All these fuels pose environ. mental problems. Fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) contribute to the Greenhouse Effect and acid rain. A long term energy replacement needs to be found. There is concern over the safety of nuclear power stations, and even greater concern over the storage of nuclear waste products. If fusion can be fully developed: 1. The fuel for fusion (hydrogen) is almost infinitely available. 2. The nuclear processes in fusion are inherently safer than those of 3. Fusion promises to have minimal pollution problems. 4. Difficulties with spent fuel rods and reaction by-products are far less than with fission. Fusion is an advancing research programme, but many breakthroughs are required, The severe and demanding conditions for controlled fusion ia the laboratory have yet to be achieved. If a controlled fusion reactor cam be built it will supply almost unlimited power THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS THE GENESIS OF THE ELEMFNTS It is an interesting philosophical point to consider how the universe 4S formed, how the various elements were formed, and why the different elements and their individual isotopes occur in the relative abundances ¥€ ern Dopplr et r effect provides evidence that the universe is expanding: — Light from the outermost galaxies has a longer wavelength than s it is towards the red end of ...¢ spectrum, because these = ving away from us, There are several theories for the origin of the es state theory! cuooncte that hudenann in aeanead aantinuously,Another interesting technique which may eer Pe oean ree Feplace ay electron in a Dz molecule by a negatively charge: ee tea times as much as an electron. This sche sea re spacing by 4 Id make fusion energy. World energy consumption is high. and fuel resources are fig and limited, Oil and natural gas reserves may well be exhausted in sp years. Coal may last rather longer, perhaps 200 years. Uranium Fesources are finite, and the use of nuclear powered electricity generating station, will only delay an eventual energy shortfall. All these fuels Pose enviton. mental problems. Fossil fuels (oil, gas and coal) contribute to the Greenhouse Effect and acid rain. A long term energy replacement needs tg be found. There is concern over the safety of nuclear power stations, ang even greater concern over the storage of nuclear waste products. If fusion can be fully developed: is ji jilable. 1. The fuel for fusion (hydrogen) is almost infinitely avail 2. The nuclear ere fusion are inherently safer than those of fission, 3. Fusion promises to have minimal pollution problems. 4. Difficulties with spent fuel rods and reaction by-products are far less than with fission. Fusion is an advancing research programme, but many breakthroughs are required. The severe and demanding conditions for controlled fusion in the laboratory have yet to be achieved. If a controlled fusion reactor can be built it will supply almost unlimited power BR ZEEE FERS RAPESEED THE GENESIS OF THE ELEMFNTS It is an interesting philosophical point to consider how the universe was formed, ‘how the various elements were formed, and why the different elements and their individual isotopes occur in the relative abundances we ‘observe on earth. The Doppler effect provides evidence that the universe is expanding. Light from the outermost galaxies has a longer wavelength than expected, that is it is towards the red end of ...e spectrum, because these galaxies are moving away from us. There are several theories for the origin of the universe. The ‘steady state theory’ suggests that hydrogen is created continuously to fill the gaps in space created by the expanding universe. The other elements are formed from hydrogen by nuclear reactions. The ‘big bang theory’ is currently the most favoured. It assumes that all the matter in the universe was packed as elementary particles into ‘nucleus’ of immense density, temperature and pressure. This exploded. hence the name big. bang, and dispersed the matter uniformly throughout ‘Space as neutrons. The neutrons then decayed, giving protous, electrons and anti-neutrinos, eson p le ev During, the big oe ee the fireball which followed, temperatures of e_-10-K jcocutred, ardi'th the: first Jkour or’so a number’ of nuclear reactions occurred: 1H + $n 7H 7H + tH 3He 3He + in — $He He + in + SHe “The isotope $He has a half life of only 2 x 1021s, so buildi ‘ eavier oa by the sequential addition of neutrons or eee his point. Once the temperature had fallen all of these reactions stopped. “Thus most of the universe was in the form of H, with a small amount of He ‘and from this matter the galaxies of stars condensed, i Regardless of the origin of the universe, it is generally accepted that wier elements may be produced by reactions in the stars, H still accounts for 88.6% and He for about 11.3% of all the atoms in the se. Together these constitute 99.9% of the atoms, and over 99% of ‘the mass of the universe. ‘The first process in the synthesis of heavier nuclei in stars is hydrogen . Stars are extremely dense (10" g cm) and there is an enormously force. Some of this force is converted into heat and the rises to about 10’ K. It has been mentioned previously (under i that this temperature is sufficient to overcome the No positively charged H nuclei, and so these nuclei can on, forming deuterium. Energy evolved (MeV) piety. 1.44 5.49 12.86 amount of mass is lost and energy is ‘are formed. The process is also slow. The ‘old, but still has about 90% of the : es in the core. The tem- and the star expands to conserve and is called a red giant, The coretHe + tHe > {Be + 7 ‘The nuclei formed in this way fuse with more He: Spe + $He—» C+ 7 Re + He + RO +7 "WO + fHe — 78Ne + ¥ ‘These reactions use up the He in the core and replace it with C, ©. and Ny ‘When most of the H and He have been used, small stars contract ang become hotter and are called white dwarfs. However, in larger stars (1.4 times the mass or the sun or srcater contraction gives even higher temperatures than before (6 x 10°K) ang. carbon-nitrogen cycle occurs, involving the reaction of these element, with hydrogen, provided some ‘ZC is available as catalyst; e+ iH UNG y INTE CH BT 4 y RC + H+ UN +7 SIN + jH—> "30 + ‘SN + JH $He + 3C Yo uN + Bt ty overall 4({H) —+ 3He + 2B* + 2v + 2y In addition these nuclei may fuse with helium:BNe + He tg y HSI + 3He— is +, WS +3He Har + Ca + $He > 471 + y ‘These fusion reactions are exothermic that the binding energy per nucleon a decreases with the heavier elements, The discussion so far explains wh universe. ‘The most abundant and hee snakes noiso srustiot.the hwvea 1:1 ratio of neutrons to protons, e.g tHe, HN MO tate Be me eaiiiewnene He, iN '$O, #4Mg and $8Ca, bo of protons (even atomic Toaban A ia neutrons and an even it but do not have a 1:1 N/P rati Le elements have an odd atomic number and he Sp INA and AL, _ but they have an even number of ae ee Hee ore stable than the corresponding odd. od¢ mucin which tes erect 1) Be and Sorc crac ion tiendans einen tr re of very low abundance eee . It is surprising that they occur at all since _amount luced by H and He burning are converted: into its. The small amounts that are found are probably reactions where cosmic rays collide with C, Nand O them to break into lighter nuclei. This is sometimes called A number of elements such as 'gC, 140 and igNe are more than their neighbours, and they difer by a $He nucleus, which mode of formation by fusing’with helium. The nucleus 38Fe is ‘abundant because it has the largest binding energy per ‘thus the most stable nucleus and is formed by fusion, ‘The he elements preceding Fe (Sc, Ti, Vand Cr) are also higher this is probably due to spallation reactions where high collide with Fe, producing Sc, Ti, V or Cr as well as % isFe, and Figure 31.2 shows s from H up to Fe, and then er than $¢Fe are endothermic, and can ‘only be produced by Thus it becomes increasingly difficult to make these n, The heavier elements are synthesized by neutron tars. There are two main processes by which this may (slow neutron capture) and the r-process (rapid Y process neutrons are added one by one to facile ot fa neutron increases the N/P ratio, and ‘on of a neutron makes the nucleus unstable. Because hhag time to decay, and the unfavour- ‘by fi decay. Then the process is repeated and Be + hn BFE Fo + Se | (31)n second BENeration sq The neutrons are produced in red giants and BENeravon stasihy the normal processes in the star, such #5: ie 4 {He = kO + in y+ to = US + bn or " neutrons can produce nuclei up to “XBi. There are ow addition of a at elements round about may, much higher than ©} numbers 9), 138 and and 3SPb and ARBi occur in relatively the number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus at the beginning of rhiy chapter it was noted that nuclei with 2, 8. 20. 28. 50 82 oF 126 neutrons of protons are particularly stable, and that these numbers are termed "may humbers’. The three clusters of elements with high abundances are close to the neutron magic numbers 50, 82 and 126. This means that they have unusually low neutron absorption cross-sections. so they do not capture neutrons very readily and hence their concentration builds up. The s-process produces the lighter or proton-rich isotopes of an clement A different source of neutrons occurs just prior to and during a super: nova period ina star. In this, big stars become extremely hot (8 * 10°), and nuclei in the core break down into neutrons. protons and a particles which undergo a variety of reactions. The core contracts and eventually implodes, resulting in an explosion of the outer shell which scatters, material ut into space. In the r-process, many neutrons are added ina period of a few seconds, before f decay eventually takes place Fe + 13(hn) + SFe Se MCo + —le The very heavy elements are_produced in this way by adding many neutrons at once, and traces of 25xCf are present in stars, and this isotope is also formed during nuclear explosions, In a similar way the elements wEs einsteinium and Fm fermium were formed during the hydrogen bomb explosions, The r-process gives neutron-rich isotopes. It is also possible that neutron-rich isotopes of several lighter isotopes, e.g. }S. 3iCa and. 4Ca, may be formed by the r-process. It is possible that proton capture may also occur in a supernova on a very short time scale. This is called the p-process. and it is possible that a range of isotopes from {iSe, '4iSn. ‘Sa and '{3Sn. up to Wig are formed in this way. ‘The short half life periods of all the isotopes ot technetium and promethium explains why they are absent on earth, pected abundances 208, and the isotopes high abundance. In the discussion oq SOME APPLICATIONS OF RADIOACTIVE ISOTOPES The applications of radioisotopes are so numerous that only & smal selection of them is covered here, Measurements of radioactivity are used to estimate the age of variousobjects, '{C erPan andes Th rele Canes ok Ses on calculating when the sample was removed from free exchange with its suriGlindinge AC la pratinced cortinean tee exchange with its tee inuously from the action of the neutrons Plant or. animal dies, the intake of radiocarbon stops and har nieeedy iScosen aratuslly devaye rbon stops and that already EE ne uly decays: In a similar way helium dating may be used to Satie o2ee at cuales pied deposits. Uranium minerals decay by Snateretie teen sone baleen One gram of U produces REWe Wael Ho cone ae ae \e mineral can be estimated if eee ee nem Corrections must be made for Gaeta Production of He from other elements such Isotope dilution analysis can be used to determine the solubility of See niece Raceamate, solid ae containing radio- pare J, can be prepared and the activity per gram measured, A known volume of a saturated solution is Aooses and the activity of the residue measured. Comparison of the activities gives the solubilit . In a similar way the isotope [3P has been used to measure the solubility of MgNH,PO,:6H.O, and '3iI has been used fo measure the solubility of Pbl2. A similar technique can be applied to vapour pressures of rather involatile materials. Activation analysis is used to determine the amount of an element in a sample. The sample to be analysed and another sample containing a known amount of the element are placed in a nuclear reactor where they are bombarded (usually with neutrons). After irradiation for a suitable period (several times the half life of the expected radioisotope) the samples are removed from the reactor. The induced radioactivity in both samples is measured. The amount of the element present in the unknown sample is obtained from the ratio of the activities of unknown and standard samples. More than 50 elements (or strictly isotopes) can be determined in this way. The method is most used to determine trace quantities. It has the advantage that the sample is not destroyed, but the disadvantage that it _ Fequires access to a reactor. Not all elements can be determined in this way; for example, it is not feasible to determine C because '%C has a very low absorption cross-section for neutrons, though activation analysis of C can be performed by bombarding with deuterium in a cyclotron. Isotope exchange reactions provide information on the mechanisms of certain reactions. Thus exchange of 7D in heavy water DO for |H in a compound occurs rapidly if H is bonded to N or O, but exchange is slow or hardly occurs in most cases where H is bonded to C. This is related to the mobility of protons and the higher polarity of N—H and O-H bonds. D,0 + RO—H = HDO + RO—D If labelled '$NH,C1 is dissolved in liquid NHy, and the solvent evaporated, the activity from 'JN is evenly distributed between the NH,CI and the