Chapter4, Part 2 PHY 201 Eng.

Shibl 01092200801

Nuclear Physics

Part #2
#1 The Decay Processes
• A radioactive nucleus spontaneously decays by one of three processes:
alpha decay, beta decay, or gamma decay.

• The black circles are the stable nuclei.

• Above the line of stability, the blue circles show unstable nuclei that are
neutron-rich and undergo a beta decay process in which an electron is
emitted.
• Below the black circles are red circles corresponding to proton-rich
unstable nuclei that primarily undergo a beta decay process in which a
positron is emitted, or a competing process called electron capture.
#2 Alpha Decay
• A nucleus emitting an alpha particle ( 42𝐻𝑒) loses two protons and two
neutrons.
• Therefore, the atomic number Z decreases by 2, the mass number A
decreases by 4, and the neutron number decreases by 2.

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• X is called the parent nucleus and Y the daughter nucleus.

• The final components of the system are the daughter nucleus and the alpha
particle.
• When the nucleus of one element changes into the nucleus of another as
happens in alpha decay, the process is called spontaneous decay.
• In any spontaneous decay, relativistic energy and momentum of the parent
nucleus as an isolated system must be conserved.
• If we call 𝑀𝑋 the mass of the parent nucleus, 𝑀𝑌 the mass of the daughter
nucleus, and 𝑀𝑎 the mass of the alpha particle, we can define the
disintegration energy Q of the system as:
𝑄 = (𝑀𝑋 − 𝑀𝑌 − 𝑀𝛼 )𝑐 2
𝑀𝑒𝑉
𝑄 = [𝑀𝑋 − 𝑀𝑌 − 𝑀𝛼 ] × 931.494
𝑢
Example (1)
The 226
88𝑅𝑎 nucleus undergoes alpha decay according to equation:
226 𝑎
88𝑅𝑎 → 𝑏𝑅𝑛 + 𝛼
What are the values of a, and b. Calculate the Q value (disintegration
energy) for this process.
Givens:
The masses are : 226.025410 𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 226𝑅𝑎 , 222.017578 𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑅𝑛 , and
4.002603 𝑢 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑝ℎ𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒.
Solution:
𝛼 ≡ 42𝐻𝑒
226 222 4
88𝑅𝑎 → 86𝑅𝑛 + 2𝐻𝑒
𝑎 = 222, 𝑏 = 86

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Example (2)
Find the energy released in the alpha decay:
238 234 4
92𝑈 → 90𝑇ℎ + 2𝐻𝑒
Givens:
𝑚( 238
92𝑈) = 238.050788 𝑢
234
𝑚( 90𝑇ℎ) = 234.043601 𝑢
𝑚( 42𝐻𝑒) = 4.002603 𝑢
Solution:
The disintegration energy Q
𝑀𝑒𝑉
𝑄 = [𝑀𝑋 − 𝑀𝑌 − 𝑀𝛼 ] × 931.494
𝑢
𝑀𝑒𝑉
𝑄 = [238.050788 𝑢 − 234.043601 𝑢 − 4.002603 𝑢] × 931.494
𝑢
𝑄 ≈ 4.27 𝑀𝑒𝑉

An application of alpha decay:

• A life-saving application of alpha decay is the household

smoke detector.
• The detector consists of an ionization chamber, a sensitive
current detector, and an alarm.
• A weak radioactive source (usually ( 241 95𝐴𝑚 )) ionizes the
air in the chamber of the detector, creating charged
particles.
• A voltage is maintained between the plates inside the
chamber, setting up a small but detectable current in the
external circuit due to the ions acting as charge carriers between the plates.
• As long as the current is maintained, the alarm is deactivated. If smoke drifts into
the chamber, however, the ions become attached to the smoke particles. These
heavier particles do not drift as readily as do the lighter ions, which causes a
decrease in the detector current.
• The external circuit senses this decrease in current and sets off the alarm.

Then for alpha decay:

𝐴→𝐴−4
𝑍 →𝑍−2
𝑁 →𝑁−2

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Example (3) Example (4)

Example (5) Example (6)

Alpha particles have an atomic mass
number equal to……
Select one:
a. 6
b. 2
c. 4
d. 1

Example (7) Example (8)

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Example (9) Example (10)

Example (11) Example (12)

#3 Beta Decay 𝒆+ : positron | 𝒗: neutrino

• Beta particles are electrons emitted by the nucleus. ̅: antineutrino

𝒗
• Beta (𝑒 − ) decay occurs when a neutron is changed to a proton within the
nucleus.
• In all reactions, charge must be conserved; that is, the charge before the reaction
must equal the charge after the reaction.
• In beta decay, when a neutron of charge 0, changes to a proton of charge +1, an
electron of charge -1, also appears. Another particle, an antineutrino, also is
emitted in beta decay.
𝒏 → 𝒑 + 𝒆− + 𝒗
̅
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• In beta decay, a nucleus with N neutrons and Z protons ends up as a nucleus of

N-1 neutrons and Z+1 protons.
𝑨 𝑨
𝒁𝑿 → 𝒁+𝟏𝒀 + 𝒆− + 𝒗
̅
𝑄 = (𝑀𝑋 − 𝑀𝑌 )𝑐 2

𝟏𝟒 𝟏𝟒
𝟔𝑪 → 𝟕𝑵 + 𝒆− + 𝒗
̅

𝐴→𝐴
𝑍 →𝑍+1
𝑁 →𝑁−1
• Beta (𝑒 ) decay occurs when a proton is changed to a neutron, a positron, and
+

a neutrino within the nucleus with the result that the nuclear mass decreases. It
cannot occur for an isolated proton because its mass is less than that of the
neutron.
𝒑 → 𝒏 + 𝒆+ + 𝒗
𝑨 𝑨
𝒁𝑿 → 𝒁−𝟏𝒀 + 𝒆+ + 𝒗

𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟐
𝟕𝑵 → 𝟔𝑪 + 𝒆+ + 𝒗 𝑨→𝑨
A→𝐴
𝒁→𝒁∓𝟏
𝑍 →𝑍−1
𝑁 →𝑁+1 𝑵→𝑵±𝟏
𝑄 = (𝑀𝑋 − 𝑀𝑌 − 2𝑚𝑒 )𝑐 2
• A process that competes with 𝒆+ decay is electron capture, which occurs when
a parent nucleus captures one of its own orbital electrons and emits a neutrino.
𝑨
𝒁𝑿 + −𝟏𝟎𝒆 → 𝑨
𝒁−𝟏𝒀 +𝒗

𝟕 𝟎
𝟒𝑩𝒆 + −𝟏𝒆 → 𝟕𝟑𝑳𝒊 + 𝒗

The properties of neutrino(𝑣):

• It has zero electric charge.
• Its mass is either zero (in which case it travels at the speed of light) or very small;
much recent persuasive experimental evidence suggests that the neutrino mass is
not zero.
• Current experiments place the upper bound of the mass of the neutrino at
approximately 7 𝑒𝑉/𝑐 2 .
• It has a spin of +1/2, which allows the law of conservation of angular
momentum to be satisfied in beta decay.
• It interacts very weakly with matter and is therefore very difficult to detect.

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Example (13) Example (14)

Example (15) Example (16)

Example (17) Example (18)

……. are electrons emitted by

the nucleus.
a. Alpha particles
b. Positron
c. Gamma radiation
d. Beta particles

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Example (19) Example (20)

Example (19) Example (20)

#4 Gamma Decay [Gamma Ray]

• A nucleus that undergoes radioactive decay is left in an excited energy state.
• The typical half-life of an excited nuclear state is 10−10 s.
• Photons emitted in such a de-excitation process are called gamma rays. Such
photons have very high energy (1 MeV to 1 GeV) relative to the energy of visible
light (approximately 1 eV).

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• The nucleus can then undergo a second decay to a lower-energy state, perhaps
to the ground state, by emitting a high-energy photon:

where X* indicates a nucleus in an excited state.

𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟐 ∗
𝟓𝑩 → 𝟔𝑪 + 𝒆− + 𝒗
̅
𝟏𝟐 ∗ 𝟏𝟐
𝟔𝑪 → 𝟔𝑪 + 𝜸
This was a beta decay followed by a gamma decay.

𝟏𝟑𝟕 ∗ 𝟏𝟑𝟕
𝟓𝟔𝑩𝒂 → 𝟓𝟔𝑩𝒂 +𝜸

For gamma decay:

𝐴→𝐴
𝑍→𝑍
𝑁→𝑁

Very important tables:

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Example (21) Example (22)

Example (23) Example (24)

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Example (25) Example (26)

Example (27) Example (28)

Example (29)

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#5 Natural Radioactivity
• Radioactive nuclei are generally classified into two groups:
✓ unstable nuclei found in nature, which give rise to natural
radioactivity.
✓ unstable nuclei produced in the laboratory through nuclear
reactions, which exhibit artificial radioactivity.
• It is also possible to stimulate changes in the structure of nuclei by bombarding
them with energetic particles. Such collisions, which change the identity of the
target nuclei, are called nuclear reactions. Rutherford was the first to observe
them, in 1919, using naturally occurring radioactive sources for the bombarding
particles. Since then, a wide variety of nuclear reactions has been observed
following the development of charged particle accelerators in the 1930s.
• With today’s advanced technology in particle accelerators and particle detectors,
the Large Hadron Collider in Europe can achieve particle energies of 14000
GeV = 14 TeV.
• The Q value, or disintegration energy, of a radioactive decay was defined as the
rest energy transformed to kinetic energy as a result of the decay process.
• Likewise, we define the reaction energy Q associated with a nuclear reaction as
the difference between the initial and final rest energies resulting from the
reaction.
𝒂+𝑿→𝒀+𝒃
𝑸 = [𝑴 𝒂 + 𝑴 𝑿 − 𝑴 𝒀 + 𝑴 𝒃 ]𝒄 𝟐
• A reaction for which Q is positive, is called exothermic.
𝟏
𝟏𝑯 + 𝟕𝟑𝑳𝒊 → 𝟒𝟐𝑯𝒆 + 𝟒𝟐𝑯𝒆
• A reaction for which Q is negative is called endothermic.
𝟏 𝟏𝟗 𝟏𝟔
𝟏𝑯 + 𝟗𝑭 → 𝟖𝑶 + 𝟒𝟐𝑯𝒆
• To satisfy conservation of momentum for the isolated system, an endothermic
reaction does not occur unless the bombarding particle has a kinetic energy
greater than Q.
• Threshold energy: is the minimum energy necessary for an endothermic reaction
to occur.

Nuclear Fission:
• Nuclear fission occurs when a heavy nucleus, such as 235𝑈 , splits into two
smaller nuclei.
• Fission is initiated when a heavy nucleus captures a thermal neutron as described
by the first step in Equation:

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• The absorption of the neutron creates a nucleus that is unstable and can change
to a lower-energy configuration by splitting into two smaller nuclei.
• In such a reaction, the combined mass of the daughter nuclei is less than the
mass of the parent nucleus, and the difference in mass is called the mass defect.
Multiplying the mass defect by 𝑐 2 gives the numerical value of the released
energy. This energy is in the form of kinetic energy associated with the motion
of the neutrons and the daughter nuclei after the fission event.
• Energy is released because the binding energy per nucleon of the daughter nuclei
is approximately 1 MeV greater than that of the parent nucleus.
• After absorbing a neutron, the uranium nucleus had split into two nearly equal
fragments plus several neutrons.

Nuclear Fusion:
• When two light nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, the process is called
nuclear fusion.
• It was found that the binding energy for light nuclei (A<20) is much smaller than
the binding energy for heavier nuclei which suggests a process that is the reverse
of fission.
• Because the mass of the final nucleus is less than the combined masses of the
original nuclei, there is a loss of mass accompanied by a release of energy.

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• These fusion reactions are the basic reactions in the proton–proton cycle,
believed to be one of the basic cycles by which energy is generated in the Sun
and other stars that contain an abundance of hydrogen. Most of the energy
production takes place in the Sun’s interior, where the temperature is
approximately 1.5 × 107 K.
• Because such high temperatures are required to drive these reactions, they are
called thermonuclear fusion reactions.
• All the reactions in the proton–proton cycle are exothermic.
• An overview of the cycle is that four protons combine to generate an alpha
particle, positrons, gamma rays, and neutrinos.

Example (30) Example (31)

Example (32) Example (33)

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Example (34) Example (35)

Example (34) Example (35)

Example (36) Example (37)

When a nucleus undergoes fission, the

two daughter nuclei are generally
radioactivity. By which process are the
most likely decay?
a. Alpha decay
b. Beta decay (𝒆− )
c. Beta decay (𝒆+ )
d. None of the above.

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