Chapter Thirteen

NUCLEI
COMPOSITION AND SIZE OF NUCLEUS.
 Radius of a nucleus is about 10–4 times the radius of an atom.
 The volume of a nucleus is about 10–12 times the volume of the atom.
 The nucleus contains most (more than 99.9%) of the mass of an atom
Definition of atomic mass unit (u).
Atomic mass unit (u), defined as 1/12th of the mass of the carbon (12C) atom

Discovery of Neutron.
 James Chadwick who observed emission of neutral radiation when beryllium
nuclei were bombarded with alpha-particles
 It was found that this neutral radiation could knock out protons from light nuclei
such as those of helium, carbon and nitrogen.
 The only neutral radiation known at that time was photons.
 If the neutral radiation consisted of photons, the energy of photons would have to
be much higher than is available from the bombardment of beryllium nuclei with
α-particles.
 Chadwick satisfactorily solved, was to assume that the neutral radiation consists
of a new type of neutral particles called neutrons.
 Mass of new particle ie. neutron ‘as very nearly the same as mass of proton’.
 A free neutron, unlike a free proton, is unstable.
It decays into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino.
A free neutron has a mean life of about 1000s.
It is stable inside the nucleus.
COMPOSITION OF NUCLEUS
 The composition of a nucleus can now be described using the following terms and
symbols
Z - atomic number = number of protons
N - neutron number = number of neutrons
A - mass number = Z + N = total number of protons and neutrons
 One also uses the term nucleon for a proton or a neutron.
Thus the number of nucleons in an atom is its mass number A.
 Nuclear species or nuclides are shown by the notation 𝐴𝑍𝑋.
X is the chemical symbol of the species.
 For example, the nucleus of gold is denoted by 197
79𝐴𝑢.
It contains 197 nucleons, of which 79 are protons ( Z = 79).
The rest ( A - Z) =118 are neutrons

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ISOTOPES
 The nuclei of isotopes of a given element contain the same number of protons,
but differ from each other in their number of neutrons.
 Deuterium, 21𝐻 which is an isotope of hydrogen, contains one proton and one
neutron.
 Its other isotope tritium, 31𝐻 contains one proton and two neutrons.
 The element gold has 32 isotopes, ranging from ‘A’ =173 to ‘A’ = 204.
 We have already mentioned that chemical properties of elements depend on
their electronic structure.
 As the atoms of isotopes have identical electronic structure they have identical
chemical behaviour and are placed in the same location in the periodic table
ISOBARS
 All nuclides with same mass number ‘A’ are called isobars.
For example, the nuclides 31𝐻 and 32𝐻𝑒 are isobars.
ISOTONES
 Nuclides with same neutron number N but different atomic number ‘Z’.
For example 198 197
80𝐻𝑔 and 79𝐴𝑢, are called isotones.
SIZE AND DENSITY OF NUCLEUS.
 It has been found that a nucleus of mass number A has a radius R = R0 A1/3
Where R0 = 1.2 × 10–15 m.
 This means the volume of the nucleus is proportional to R3.
And R3 is proportional to A.
Thus the density of nucleus is a constant, independent of A, for all nuclei.
 Different nuclei are likes drop of liquid of constant density.
The density of nuclear matter is approximately 2.3 × 1017 kg m–3.
This density is very large compared to ordinary matter.
This is understandable, as we have already seen that most of the atom is empty.
Ordinary matter consisting of atoms has a large amount of empty space.
 The density of matter in neutron stars (an astrophysical object) is comparable
to the density of nucleus. This shows that matter in these objects has been
compressed to such an extent that they resemble a big nucleus.
MASS-ENERGY AND NUCLEAR BINDING ENERGY
Mass – Energy relation.
 Einstein showed that mass is another form of energy and one can convert mass-
energy into other forms of energy, say kinetic energy and vice-versa.
Einstein gave the famous mass-energy equivalence relation
E = mc2
Where ‘c’ is the velocity of light in vacuum and is approximately equal to 3×108
m s–1.
 Energy equivalent of 1 g of substance is
E = 10–3 × 9 × 1016 = 9 × 1013 J
Thus, if one gram of matter is converted to energy, there is a release of
enormous amount of energy.

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Nuclear binding energy
 Nucleus is made up of neutrons and protons.
 Therefore it may be expected that the mass of the nucleus is equal to the total
mass of its individual protons and neutrons.
 But it is found that mass of the nucleus is less than the total mass of its
constituents.
 The difference in mass of a nucleus and its constituents, ∆M, is called the
mass defect.
∆M = total mass of constituents of the nucleus - mass of the nucleus.
∆M = Sum of masses of Total number of protons and neutrons - mass of the
nucleus.
∆M = [Number of protons × mass of a proton + Number of neutrons × mass
of a neutrons] - mass of the nucleus
∆M = [Z mP + (A-Z) mN] – M
Binding Energy.
 So in this reaction (Nuclear reaction) mass is not conserved.
What happened to the mass (Mass Defect)?
The difference in the mass is converted in to energy according to Einstein mass
energy relation and used to bind the nucleons to form a stable nucleus.
 This energy released by the mass defect to bind the nucleons to form a stable
nucleus is called Binding Energy Eb =∆M c2 J
 If we separate a nucleus into its nucleons, we would have to supply a total
energy equal to Eb, to those particles.
Binding Energy Per Nucleon, Ebn

 The ratio of the binding energy Eb of a nucleus to the number of the nucleons A.
In that nucleus: Ebn = Eb / A
 Binding energy per nucleon is the average energy per nucleon needed to
separate a nucleus into its individual nucleons
The binding energy per nucleon as a function of mass number.

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Main Features of the Ebn - A Graph
 The binding energy per nucleon, Ebn, is practically constant, i.e. practically
independent of the atomic number for nuclei of middle mass number
(30 < A < 170).
The curve has a maximum of about 8.75 MeV for A = 56 and has a value of
7.6 MeV for A = 238.
 Ebn is lower for both light nuclei (A<30) and heavy nuclei (A>170).
Conclusions from these two Main Features
I. The force is attractive and sufficiently strong to produce a binding energy of a
few MeV per nucleon.

II. The constancy of the binding energy in the range 30 < A < 170 is a consequence
of the fact that the nuclear force is short-ranged.
Consider a particular nucleon inside a sufficiently large nucleus.
It will be under the influence of only some of its neighbours, which come within
the range of the nuclear force.
If any other nucleon is at a distance more than the range of the nuclear force
from the particular nucleon it will have no influence on the binding energy of
the nucleon under consideration.
If a nucleon can have a maximum of p neighbours within the range of nuclear
force, its binding energy would be proportional to p.
Let the binding energy of the nucleus be pk, where k is a constant having the
dimensions of energy.
If we increase A by adding nucleons they will not change the binding energy of
a nucleon inside.
Since most of the nucleons in a large nucleus reside inside it and not on the
surface, the change in binding energy per nucleon would be small.
The binding energy per nucleon is a constant and is approximately equal to pk.
The property that a given nucleon influences only nucleons close to it is also
referred to as saturation property of the nuclear force.
( Point II explains why the mid-range nucleus are more stable )

III. A very heavy nucleus, say A = 240, has lower binding energy per nucleon
compared to that of a nucleus with A = 120. Thus if a nucleus A = 240 breaks
into two A = 120 nuclei, nucleons get more tightly bound. This implies energy
would be released in the process.
This reaction is called as nuclear fission reaction.
Heavy nuclei are suitable for nuclear fission reaction.

IV. Consider two very light nuclei (A≤ 10) joining to form a heavier nucleus. The
binding energy per nucleon of the fused heavier nuclei is more than the binding
energy per nucleon of the lighter nuclei. This means that the final system is
more tightly bound than the initial system.
This process of fusion is called nuclear fusion reaction.
Lighter nuclei are suitable for fusion reaction.

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NUCLEAR FORCE
To understand how the graph describes the nuclear force and stability of atom recall
the following facts.
Basic principle from the concept of potential energy.
When U is negative the force of interaction is attractive.
When U is positive the force of interaction is repulsive.
When U is minimum (Maximum Negative) force of interaction is highly attractive
and the system is highly stable.

Potential energy of a pair of nucleons as a function of their separation. For a separation

greater than r0, the force is attractive and for separations less than r 0, the force is
strongly repulsive
(i) The nuclear force is much stronger than the Coulomb force acting between
charges or the gravitational forces between masses. The nuclear binding
force has to dominate over the Coulomb repulsive force between protons
inside the nucleus.

(ii) The nuclear force between two nucleons falls rapidly to zero as their distance
is more than a few femtometres.
This leads to saturation of forces in a medium or a large-sized nucleus, which
is the reason for the constancy of the binding energy per nucleon.
A rough plot of the potential energy between two nucleons as a function of
distance is shown
The potential energy is a minimum at a distance r 0 of about 0.8 fm. This
means that the force is attractive for distances larger than 0.8 fm and
repulsive if they are separated by distances less than 0.8 fm.

(iii) The nuclear force between neutron-neutron, proton-neutron and proton-

proton is approximately the same.
The nuclear force does not depend on the electric charge.

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RADIOACTIVITY
 H. Becquerel discovered radioactivity in 1896
 Radioactivity is a nuclear phenomenon in which an unstable nucleus undergoes a
decay by emitting particles / photons. This is referred to as radioactive decay.
 α-decay in which a helium nucleus 𝟒𝟐𝐇𝐞 is emitted;
 β-decay in which electrons or positrons (particles with the same mass as electrons,
but with a charge exactly opposite to that of electron) are emitted;
 γ-decay in which high energy (hundreds of keV or more) photons are emitted.

Properties of α β and γ radiations.

α radiation.
 α particles are the nucleus of helium 𝟒𝟐𝐇𝐞
 α particles are deflected by both magnetic and electric fields
 α particles are positively changed.
 α particles have strongest ionisation power.
 α particles affect photographic plates and cause fluorescence
 α particles have least penetrating power.
 α particles move with relatively smaller velocity.

β radiation
 β particles are either electrons or positrons.
 β particles are deflected by both magnetic and electric fields.
 β particles have less ionisation power.
 β particles have more penetrating power.
 β particles affect photographic plates and cause fluorescence.
 β particles move faster with the 90% of the velocity of light.

γ radiation
 γ radiations are a stream high energy photons emitted by the nucleus.
 γ radiations have the least ionisation power.
 γ radiations highest penetrating power.
 γ radiations moves with the speed of light.
 γ radiations affect photographic plates strongly and cause fluorescence.

Law of radioactive decay

The number of nuclei undergoing the decay per unit time is proportional to the total
number of nuclei in the ample.

Expression for number of radioactive nuclei in a given sample at any given time.

If N is the number of nuclei in the sample and N undergo decay in time t then

Where is called the radioactive decay constant or disintegration constant.

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The change in the number of nuclei in the samples
dN = – N in time t.
Thus the rate of change of N is

Integrating on both sides,

ln N −ln N0 = −(t – t0)

( ln – Natural log)
N0 is the number of radioactive nuclei in the sample at t0 initial time.
N is the number of radioactive nuclei at any subsequent time t.
Setting t0 = 0

(Using ln A – ln B = ln (A / B )

Taking exponential on both sides,

𝑁
ln 𝑁
(𝑒 𝑁0 = )
𝑁0

Expression for activity R.

Activity R is defined as no of disintegrations per second.

Unit of radioactivity.
1 Becquerel is simply equal to 1 disintegration or decay per second.
1 curie = 1 Ci = 3.7 × 1010 decays per second
= 3.7 × 1010 Bq

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Halftime 𝑻𝟏
𝟐
Half-life of a radionuclide is the time it takes for a sample that has initially, say N0 radio
nuclei to reduce to N0/2.
Expression for half time.

Mean life time.

Average life time of all radioactive nuclei present in a sample is known as mean life time or average
life time.

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 Displacement law for radioactivity.
α – decay.
When a nuclei undergoes α decay its mass number reduced by four and atomic number
by two as it emits 𝟒𝟐𝐇𝐞 .

 From Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence relation and energy conservation, it

is clear that this spontaneous decay is possible only when the total mass of the
decay products is less than the mass of the initial nucleus.
 This difference in mass appears as kinetic energy of the products.
 By referring to a table of nuclear masses, one can check that the total mass of
234
90𝑇ℎ and 42𝐻𝑒 is indeed less than that of 238
92𝑈.

 The disintegration energy or the Q-value of a nuclear reaction is the difference

between the initial mass energy and the total mass energy of the decay
products.
 For α-decay Q = (mX – mY – mHe) c2
 Q is also the net kinetic energy gained in the process or, if the initial nucleus
X is at rest, the kinetic energy of the products. Clearly, Q> 0 for exothermic
processes such as α-decay
β-decay.
In beta decay, a nucleus spontaneously emits an electron (−decay) or a
positron (decay).
Example for −decay

Example for decay

 In both −and decay, the mass number A remains unchanged.
 In −decay, the atomic number Z of the nucleus goes up by one as one
neutron disintegrates in to a proton, an electron and an antineutrino.

 In decay the atomic number Z goes down by one as one proton
disintegrates in to a neutron, a positron and a neutrino.


 Free neutron ( neutron outside the nucleus) decays to proton, the decay of
proton to neutron is possible only inside the nucleus, since proton has smaller
mass than neutron
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gamma decay
 Like an atom, a nucleus also has discrete energy levels - the ground state and
excited states.
 The scale of energy is, however, very different. Atomic energy level spacings
are of the order of eV, while the difference in nuclear energy levels is of the
order of MeV.
 When a nucleus in an excited state spontaneously decays to its ground state (or
to a lower energy state), a photon is emitted with energy equal to the difference
in the two energy levels of the nucleus.
 This is the so-called gamma decay.
 The energy (MeV) corresponds to radiation of extremely short wavelength,
shorter than the hard X-ray region.
 Typically, a gamma ray is emitted when a α or β decay results in a daughter
nucleus in an excited state.
 This then returns to the ground state by a single photon transition or successive
transitions involving more than one photon.

Energy from nucleus.

Fission.
Splitting of a larger nucleus in two smaller fragments of nearly equal mass with a
release of two or three fast neutrons and a large amount of energy in the order of few
MeV is known as fission.
Examples for nuclear fission.

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  The disintegration energy in fission events first appears as the kinetic energy of
the fragments and neutrons.
 Eventually it is transferred to the surrounding matter appearing as heat.
 The source of energy in nuclear reactors, which produce electricity, is nuclear
fission.
Nuclear chain reaction.
 There is a release of extra neutron (s) in the fission process.
 Averagely, 2½ neutrons are released per fission of uranium nucleus.
 It is a fraction since in some fission events 2 neutrons are produced, in some 3,
etc.
 The extra neutrons in turn can initiate fission processes, producing still more
neutrons, and so on.
 This leads to the possibility of a chain reaction, as was first suggested by Enrico
Fermi.

ILLUSTRATION
 One fission of U235 releases 3 neutrons.
 These 3 neutrons may initiate 3 fissions in the second stage to release 9
neutrons.
 These nine neutron may initiate 9 fissions in third stage with a release of
27 neutrons.
 Thus this reaction continues till the availability of fissionable nucleus in the
sample.

 The enormous energy released in an atom bomb comes from uncontrolled

nuclear fission.
 If the chain reaction is controlled suitably, we can get a steady energy

Nuclear reactor.

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Important parts of a nuclear reactor and their functions.
Fuel Rods.
Enriched Uranium 235 is fabricated in the shape of a rod which provides the
fissionable nucleus for the fission reaction.
Moderator.
Normally Heavy water which converts fast neutrons to thermal neutrons which could
initiate fission.
Control-Rods
The reaction rate is controlled through control-rods made out of neutron-absorbing
material such as cadmium.
Safety Rods
In addition to control rods, reactors are provided with safety rods which, when
required, can be inserted into the reactor and K can be reduced rapidly to less than
unity.
The core is surrounded by a reflector to reduce leakage.
The energy released in fission is continuously removed by a suitable coolant.
A containment vessel prevents the escape of radioactive fission products.
The whole assembly is shielded to check harmful radiation from coming out.
The reactor can be shut down by means of rods (made of, for example, cadmium) that
have high absorption of neutrons.
The coolant transfers heat to a working fluid which in turn may produce stream.
The steam drives turbines and generates electricity.
Multiplication factor and criticality of a nuclear reactor.
Because of the use of moderator and control rods it is possible that the ratio, K, of
number of fission produced by a given generation of neutrons to the number of fission
of the preceding generation may be greater than one.
This ratio is called the multiplication factor; it is the measure of the growth rate of the
neutrons in the reactor.
For K = 1, the operation of the reactor is said to be critical, which is what we wish it
to be for steady power operation.
If K becomes greater than one, the reaction rate and the reactor power increases
exponentially. Unless the factor K is brought down very close to unity, the reactor
will become supercritical and can even explode.
The explosion of the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine in 1986 is a sad reminder that
accidents in a nuclear reactor can be catastrophic
Nuclear reactors generate considerable waste products.
But nuclear wastes need special care for treatment since they are radioactive and
hazardous. Elaborate safety measures, both for reactor operation as well as handling
and reprocessing the spent fuel, are required.
These safety measures are a distinguishing feature of the Indian Atomic Energy
programme.
An appropriate plan is being evolved to study the possibility of converting radioactive
waste into less active and short-lived material.

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Nuclear fusion
 When two light nuclei fuse to form a larger nucleus, energy is released, since
the larger nucleus is more tightly bound
 Two protons fuse together if they have very high kinetic energy in the order of
400 keV to overcome the coulomb force of repulsion.
 They may attain such energy at very high temperature in the order of 109 Kelvin.
 So this nuclear reaction is also called as thermonuclear fusion.

Controlled thermonuclear fusion

 The natural thermonuclear fusion process in a star is replicated in a
thermonuclear fusion device. In controlled fusion reactors, the aim is to generate
steady power by heating the nuclear fuel to a temperature in the range of 10 8 K.
 At these temperatures, the fuel is a mixture of positive ions and electrons
(plasma).
 The challenge is to confine this plasma, since no container can stand such a high
temperature.
 Several countries around the world including India are developing techniques in
this connection.
 If successful, fusion reactors will hopefully supply almost unlimited power to
humanity.
Energy equivalent of one atomic mass unit in MeV.

Energy equivalent of 1u = 931.5 MeV

Or 1u = 931.5 MeV/C2

This is a very useful expression to find the energy released in all type of nuclear
reactions by finding the mas defect in amu.

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