Nuclei

of its constituent nucleons is called its mass

defect. It is given by
1. Atomic mass unit (amu). It is defined as 1/12 th Δ𝑚 = 𝑍𝑚𝑝 + (𝐴 − 𝑍)𝑚𝑛 − 𝑚
of the mass of one √C atom. Its value is given by
1 𝑎𝑚𝑢 = 1.660565 × 10−27 𝑘𝑔 = 931 𝑀𝑒𝑉. 7. Binding energy. It may be defined as the energy
required to break up a nucleus into its
2. Electron volt. It is defined as the energy constituent protons and neutrons and to
acquired by an electron when it is accelerated separate them to such a large distance that they
through a potential difference of 1 volt and is may not interact with each other.
denoted by eV. It may also be defined as the surplus energy
which the nucleons give up by virtue of their
1𝑒𝑉 = 1.602 × 10−19 𝐽 attractions when they become bound together
1𝑀𝑒𝑉 = 106 𝑒𝑉 = 1.602 × 10−13 𝐽 to form a nucleus.
The binding energy of a nucleus z X is given by
3. Relation between size of nucleus and mass
number. It is found that the radius r of a nucleus Δ𝐸𝑏𝑛 = [𝑍𝑚𝐻 + (𝐴 − 𝑍)𝑚𝑛 − 𝑚]𝑐 2 .
is proportional to the cube root of its mass
number. 8. Binding energy per nucleon. It is the average
𝑟 = 𝑟0 𝐴1/3, energy required to extract one nucleon from the
nucleus. It is obtained by dividing the binding
Where 𝑟0 = 1.2 × 10−15 𝑚
energy of a nucleus by its mass number.
= 1.2 fermi for electrons as probes.
𝐵. 𝐸.
Δ𝐸𝑏𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝐵̅ =
4. Nuclear density. The density of a nucleus is 𝐴
[𝑍𝑚𝐻 + (𝐴 − 𝑍)𝑚𝑛 − 𝑚]𝑐 2
independent of the size of the nucleus and is =
given by 𝐴
In the mass number range 𝐴 = 30 𝑡𝑜 170, the
𝑁𝑢𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑚𝑛𝑢
𝜌𝑛𝑢 = = binding energy per nucleon is nearly constant,
𝑁𝑢𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 4 𝜋𝑅 3 about 8 MeV per nucleon.
3

The nuclear density is of the order of 9. Packing fraction. The packing fraction of a
1017 𝑘𝑔𝑚−3 nucleus is its mass defect per nucleon.

5. Discovery of neutrons. Neutrons were 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡 Δ𝑚

𝑃. 𝐹. 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑛𝑢𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑢𝑠 = =
discovered by Chadwick in 1932. When beryllium 𝑀𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝐴
nuclei are bombarded by α-particles, highly
penetrating radiations are emitted, which It is directly related to the availability of nuclear
consist of neutral particles, each having mass energy and the stability of the nucleus.
nearly that of a proton. These particles were
called neutrons. 10. Alpha decay. It is the process of emission of an
α-particle from a radioactive nucleus.
𝐴 𝐴−4 4
4
+ 49𝐵𝑒 → 10𝑛 + 120𝐶 𝑍𝑋 → 𝑍−2𝑌 + 2𝐻𝑒 + 𝑄.
2𝐻𝑒

A free neutron decays spontaneously, with a 11. Beta decay. It is the process of emission of an
half-life of about 1000 s, into a proton, electron electron or a positron from a radioactive
and an antineutrino. nucleus.
𝐴 𝐴 − (𝛽 − − 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦)
𝑍𝑋 → 𝑍+1𝛾 + 𝛽 + 𝜈̅
𝐴 𝐴 + (𝛽 + − 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦)
1
→ 11𝐻 + 01𝑒 + 𝜈̅ 𝑍𝑋 → 𝑍−1𝛾 + 𝛽 + 𝜈
0𝑛

6. Mass defect. The difference between the rest 12. Gamma decay. It is the process of emission of a
mass of a nucleus and the sum of the rest masses γ-ray photon during the radioactive
disintegration of a nucleus. This occurs when a

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 nucleus in an excited state makes a transition to 20. Nuclear fission. It is the process in which a heavy
a state of lower energy nucleus (𝐴 > 230) when excited gets split up
𝐴
𝑍𝑋(Excited state) into two smaller nuclei of nearly comparable
→ 𝐴𝑍𝑋(Ground state) + 𝛾 masses. For example,

13. Radioactive decay law. The number of atoms of 235 141

92
92𝑈 + 10𝑛 → 56𝐵𝑎 + 𝐾𝑟 + 310 𝑛 + 𝑄
a radioactive sample disintegrating per second at 36
any instant is directly proportional to the
number of undecayed radioactive nuclei present 21. Nuclear fusion. It is the process of fusion of two
at that instant. smaller nuclei into a heavier nucleus with the
𝑑𝑁 liberation of large amount of energy. For
= −𝜆𝑁
𝑑𝑡 example,
The law may also be expressed as 𝑁 = 2 2 4
1𝐻 + 1𝐻 → 2𝐻𝑒 + 24 𝑀𝑒𝑉
𝑁0 𝑒 −𝜆𝑡 where NQ is the number of nuclei at f = These reactions require the extreme conditions
0 and X is decay constant. of temperature and pressure so that the reacting
nuclei can overcome their electrostatic
14. Half-life. Tire half-life of a radioactive substance repulsion. For this reason, these reactions are
is the time in which one-half of the initial number called thermonuclear reactions.
of nuclei disintegrates.
0.693 1 𝑛
𝑇1/2 = ; 𝑁 = 𝑁0 ( )
𝜆 2
𝑡
where n = number of half-lives in time 𝑡 = 𝑇
1/2
Its units are s, day, year, etc.

15. Mean-life. It may be defined as the ratio of the

combined age of all the atoms to the total
number of atoms present in the given sample.
1 𝑇1/2
𝜏= = = 1.44𝑇1/2
𝜆 0.63
Its units are s, day, year, etc.

16. Decay rate or activity of a sample. It is the

number of radioactive disintegrations taking
place per second in a given sample.
𝑑𝑁
𝑅 = | | = 𝜆𝑁 = 𝜆𝑁0 𝑒 −𝜆𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑅 = 𝑅0 𝑒 −𝜆𝑡
𝑑𝑡

17. Becquerel. It is the SI unit of activity and is

defined as the decay rate of one disintegration
per second.
1 𝑏𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙 = 1 𝑏𝑞 = 1 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑦 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑.

18. Curie. One curie is the decay rate of 3.7 × 1010

disintegrations per second.
1 𝐶𝑖 (𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑒) = 3.70 × 1010 disintegrations / s.

19. Rutherford. One rutherford is the decay rate of

10Cl disintegrations per second.
1 𝑟𝑑 (𝑟𝑢𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑑) = 106 disintegrations/s.

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