S-ECHE001L- Chemistry for Engineers Laboratory

Module 6: Nuclear Chemistry

Enabling Assessment Exercises on Nuclear Chemistry

Name Date
Professor CYS
Points 35 points Time Allotment 60 minutes Score

Instruction. Analyze each item carefully and write your answer by showing your systematic
solution or giving clear and concise statements.

1. Write the balanced nuclear reaction for each process and identify the type of nuclear
decay involved. (5 pts)
a. Polonium-210 decays into lead-206

b. Actinium-227 transforms into thorium-227

c. Astatine-73 receives an electron

d. Nitrogen-13 releases a beta plus particle

e. High-energy potassium-38 atom returns to its ground state

2. Answer the following questions on rate of nuclear decay (15 pts)

a. Fossilized tortoise shell was discovered in an ancient cave dwelling in northern

Philippines. A sample of the shell has a specific activity (which is equivalent to N t) of
4.12 disintegration per minute per gram (d/min-g). If the ratio of C-12 and C-14 in
living organisms results to 17.5 d/min-g (which is equivalent to N 0), how old is the
fossil given that the half-life of C-14 is 5730 years?
 S-ECHE001L- Chemistry for Engineers Laboratory
Module 6: Nuclear Chemistry

b. A patient undergoing thyroid radiotracing was initially administered with 50.0 mg of

iodine-131. After 3 days, around 38.5 mg of the substances remains in the thyroid of
the patient. What is the half-life of I-131 and how many days will it take for the level
of substance to drop to 5.00 mg?

c. The Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is the most recent catastrophic nuclear
disaster in memory which was brought about by the massive tsunami that was
triggered by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake in Tohoku region in Japan last 2011. One
of the radioactive substances released during the incident is cesium-137 which has a
half-life of 30 years. Around 15,000 terabecquerels (becquerel is a standard unit of
radioactivity named after Henri Becquerel) of Cs-137 was released during the
disaster. How many becquerels of this radioactive substance remains to this day?

3. Determine the energy in one mole of cobalt-60 as it decays into nickel-60 during cancer
radiotherapy if the mass of cobalt-60 atom is 59.9338 amu and that of nickel-60 is
59.9308 amu. (5 pts)
 S-ECHE001L- Chemistry for Engineers Laboratory
Module 6: Nuclear Chemistry

4. What are the other uses of radioactive substances aside from energy and weaponry
purposes? (5 pts)

5. What the harmful effects of radioactive substances to biological systems? (5 pts)