By

Sajid Tanveer Jadoon

 The Theory of Compound nucleus was Proposed by
Bohr in 1936, which has been extremely useful in the
correlation and interpretation of nuclear reactions.
 Bohr assumed that a nuclear reaction takes place in
two - steps:
1. The incident or projectile particle is absorbed by
the target, to form a intermediate nucleus
called compound nucleus.
2. The compound nucleus disintegrates by ejecting
a particle (proton, neutron, a-particle, etc.) or a r-
ray, leaving behind the final, or product or
residual nucleus.
 The mode of disintegration of the compound nucleus
is independent of mode of formation of compound
nucleus.
 The mode of disintegration of compound of nucleus
depend upon its energy and momentum of compound
nucleus .
 It mean that two steps of the reaction are separate
processes
 The projectile particle loses all its energy to the target
nucleus in first step and becomes an integral part of a
new highly excited unstable nucleus called a
compound nucleus.
 The compound nucleus disintegrates into emerging
small particle and product nucleus within time of the
order of 10-19 to 10-15 Sec. The compound-nucleus
model is very successful in explaining nuclear reaction
induced by relatively low-energy bombarding particles
such as projectiles with energies about 50 Mev.
 Bohr's assumptions are in accord with many of the
facts of nuclear transmutation, when a given nuclide is
bombarded with particles of a single type, several
different new nuclides can be formed.
 For Example
 When 13Al27 is bombarded with protons, compound
nucleus [14Si28]* is formed. The compound nucleus
disintegrate in any one of several ways because when
incident particle enter the nucleus, its energy is shared
among nucleons before re-emission.
1. The compound nucleus [14Si28]* disintegrate into
Mg24 and an alpha-particle (OR)
2. The compound nucleus [14Si28]* disintegrate into Si27
and a neutron (OR)
3. The compound nucleus [14Si28]* disintegrate into Si28
and a r-ray; (OR)
4. The compound nucleus [14Si28]* disintegrate into
Na24‘ along with 3 protons, and a neutron.
 The projectile particle is absorbed by the target nucleus when it
is bombarded on target nucleus to form compound nucleus.
 Consider a projectile a is incident on the target nucleus X, a
excited compound nucleus C*n is formed
 a+X-------------------- C*n
 The processes of formation of compound nucleus is called
Entrance Channel.
 The projectile loses its identity because its energy is shared by all
the nucleons of target nucleus.
 This energy is then concentrated to one nucleons or group of
nucleons.
 The compound nucleus remains in excited state for time 10-13 to
10-19 Sec.
 The excitation energy of compound nucleus can be
calculated from the masses of projectile, target
nucleus, compound nucleus and kinetic energy of
projectile because strong interaction takes place
between projectile and target nucleus.
 Bohr also suggested that some excited nucleus can be
formed by bombarding different projectile particles on
deferent target nuclei. The energy of projectile may
differ in each case of formation.
 The compound nucleus C*n decay by emitting a particle b
called emerging nucleus. The Y left behind in called
residual nucleus
C*n --------Y +b
Bohr assumed hat decay of compound nucleus is
independent of the way in which it formed. The decay of
compound nucleus depend upon the properties of the
compound nucleus such as energy, angular momentum,
parity etc.
The process of disintegration of compound nucleus is called
Exit Channel.
If energy is concentrated on single nucleons, then r-ray is
emitted. if energy is concentrated on a group of nucleons
then deuteron or Alpha particles are emitted.
 Bohr's assumption is also in accord with the picture of
the nucleus as a system of particles held together by
very strong short-range forces.
 When the incident particle enters the nucleus, its
energy is quickly shared among the nuclear particles
before re-emission can occur, and the state of the
compound nucleus is then independent of the way it
was formed.
 On being captured, the incident particle makes available a
certain amount of excitation energy, which is nearly equal
to the kinetic energy of the captured particle plus its
binding energy in the compound nucleus. The magnitude
of the excitation energy can be calculated from the masses
of the incident particle, target nucleus, and compound
nucleus, and the kinetic energy of the incident particle.
 At a given instant, the excitation energy may be shared
among several nucleons; at a later time it may be shared by
other nucleons, or it may eventually again become
concentrated on one nucleon or combination of nucleons.
 In the latter case, if the excitation energy is large enough,
one nucleon, or a combination of nucleons, may escaped,
and the compound nucleus disintegrates into the product
nucleus and outgoing particle
 After the formation of compound nucleus, compound
nucleus may exist for a relatively long time compared
to the nuclear time.
 “Nuclear time” is the time taken by the bombarding
particle to cross the diameter of the nuclear ( = 10-14
m)
 For a 1 Mev Proton of speed v= 107 m/s )
 The nuclear time is of the order of (10-14 / 107 )= 10-21 sec
Since life time of compound nucleus (10-13 or 10-19 ) sec
is larger than the nuclear time of 10-21 sec.
 During its relatively long lifetime, the compound nucleus
"forgets" how it was formed, and the disintegration is
independent of the mode of formation.
 The compound nucleus may be said to exist in a "quasi-
stationary” state, which means that although it exists for a
time interval which is very long compared with the natural
nuclear time, it can still disintegrate by ejecting one or
more nucleons.
 These quasi-stationary states are usually called virtual
states or virtual levels in contrast to bound states or bound
levels, which can decay only by emitting r-radiation.
 This mode is suitable for reaction with projectile have
energies below 50 MeV. This model successfully
explain the nuclear reaction for incident particle
merging up to 50 Mev and for target A> 10. for energy e
in range 15 Mev to 50 Mev. This model is gives
satisfactory result.
 It is not certain that the compound nucleus will decay
into which particle. For example of formation and
decay of compound nucleus are
 1H1 + 29Cu63 ----- {30Zn64 }* ----------30Zn63+ 0n1
H 1 + Cu63 ----- Cu 62 + n1 + H1
1 29 29 0 1
 Most of experiment information supports compound
nuclear theory qualitatively and quantitatively but certain
experimental result are not consistent with compound
nucleus theory. Therefore, compound nucleus theory is
valid with certain limitations.
 1. The incident particle losses its identity when it makes
interaction with large number of nucleons but in case of
lighter nuclei, theory cannot be applied.
 The excitation energy of compound nucleus is same for
both of a and b is within a certain range. The excitation
energy of compound nucleus is different for both entrance
channels when energy of a and b is beyond that certain
range.
 The cross-section of nucleus reaction will be large and
there is emission of protons when a compound
nucleus is formed with protons and neutrons. When
nuclear reaction is initiated with protons rather than
neutron, this is contradiction to compound nucleus
theory.
 Some time, it is observed that angular distribution of
emitted particle is not independent of entrance
channel.
 Certain nuclear reaction which are initiated with
proton and neutron proceed in a mechanism. This not
consistent with compound theory.