Fusion reactions, in fact, provide the energy radiated by the sun and the stars.

The principal reaction in the sun is the fusion of four hydrogen atoms to form a single helium atom. There is spectroscopic evidence that indicates the mass of the sun is 73% hydrogen atoms, 26% helium atoms, and only 1% of all other elements. The fusion of hydrogen atoms into helium takes place through a series of steps involving the production of several intermediate nuclides, including deuterium, H, tritium, H and He. Among the many nuclear reactions that are believed to occur at the very high temperature of the sun are the following A serious practical problem in utilizing fusion reactions to produce energy is that there is no substance that can remain solid at the very high temperatures necessary to initiate fusion, so there is no material container in which to place the reacting species. At the temperatures required for fusion, all atoms are ionized, so the gaseous matter consists of charged particles, including electrons. In order to confine the species to be fused, matterless walls of magnetic fields have been used. These intense magnetic fields keep the hot gases concentrated inside the reaction volume while the density is increased sufficiently to achieve fusion. Recent research has centered on the possibility of using lasers to generate the extremely high temperatures required to initiate fusion. A great deal of research remains to be done before the fusion process becomes a practical means of supplying our energy needs. Fission The reactions used in the nuclear power plants operating today are fission reactions, in which a very heavy nucleus, typically 235U, is split into lighter fragments, releasing a portion of the nuclear binding energy of the heavy nucleus as heat, which is then converted into electricity. Fission was also the process used in the atomic bombs the United States dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. Fission is accomplished by bombarding heavy nuclei with other particles such as neutrons, protons, deuterons, and -particles. By far the most commonly used projectiles are slow-moving neutrons, also called thermal neutrons, meaning a neutron that has the same kinetic energy as a gas molecule at approximately room temperature. When a heavy nucleus is struck by a thermal neutron it can split in many different ways, so that large numbers of fragments are obtained. More than 200 different isotopes of 35 different elements have been found among the fission products of 235U. Two of the many ways that the 235U nucleus splits are the following: (22-16) (22-16) The distribution of isotopes produced in the fission of distribution is strongly asymmetric.
235

U is shown in Fig.22.3. Note that this

A particularly striking feature of these reactions is that the fission produces more neutrons than are used to cause the fission. These neutrons, in turn, can strike other uranium nuclei and produce additional fission reactions. With each fission reactions, energy is released, and if the number of fissions increased rapidly with the production of more neutrons, a violent explosion can take place. This succession of fission reactions is called a chain fission reaction. If the sample of fissionable material is small, most neutrons escape from the sample before they can strike another uranium nucleus, and a chain reaction does not occur. There is a minimum size necessary for the mass of fissionable material before a chain reaction can take place. A mass too small to permit a chain reaction is said to be subcritical. A critical mass is just large enough to maintain a chain reaction with a constant rate of fission. The magnitude of the critical mass varies with the nucleus being split. Among the heavy nuclei that have been induced to undergo fission are 235U, 233U, 239Pu. The critical mass also depends to certain extent on the shape of the sample. If the mass of the fissionable material is larger than the critical mass, relatively few neutrons escape and the reaction becomes supercritical. In the atomic bomb, two subcritical masses are brought together to form a supercritical mass when the bomb is to be exploded. In nuclear reactors for power generation, the concentration of fissionable material is, of course, kept below supercritical levels. Fuel rods, containing uranium enriched with 235U or some other fissionable nucleus, are used as the reactor core. The most frequently used nuclear fuel in the United States consists of pellets of U3O8 in which the abundance of 235U has been increased to about 3% (the natural abundance of 235U is 0,72%). The flux of neutrons is controlled by rods containing cadmium or boron, materials that are good absorbes of neutrons. Boron removes neutron by the reaction

Inserting the control rods more deeply into the reactor core can stop the fission reaction. A schematic diagram of a nuclear reactor is shown in Fig. 22.4 Both the fission products and the used fuel rods are highly radioactive, and the waste products must be stored for many hundreds of years before the radioactivity falls to a safe level. The problems involved with safely storing dangerous materials for such long periods of time are great, and the choice of a site for burial of nuclear waste is a controversial subject. It has been proposed that nuclear waste be buried underground in deep mines, or buried at sea. It is difficult to insure that an underground burial site will not be disturbed by earthquakes during the next several hundred years.

Breeder Reactors In current nuclear reactors in the United State the 235U fuel is used once and all products are discarded. No fuel is reprocessed or reused. It is possible to build reactors in which new fuel is produced as the reactor produces heat. In these reactors, called breeder reactors, neutrons are

absorbed either by 22Th or U, both of which are more plentiful than 5U. The reactions that occur when these two nuclides absorb neutrons U + n , 2Pu + 2 /J 2Th n 2:u + 2 .fi produce fissionable nuclei, Pu and 2U, that car. be used as fuel for the nuclear reactor. Many questions remain unresolved about the advisability of producing breeder. reactors. First and foremost, 2Pu is exceedingly toxic. Inhaling even a very small amount can be fatal. The potential dangers ofan accident using a breeder reactor are therefore greater than the potential dangers with the nuclear reactors currently in use. Secondly, the major use today of 2Pu is for nuclear weapons. With breeder reactors, there would be a greater supply of 2Pu available, and a consequent risk that some will be stolen and diverted for use in weaponry. There are also difficulties associated with the design of a breeder reactor. Water, which is used as a coolant for current nuclear reactors (see Fig. 22.4) cannot be used for breeder reactors, which operate at higher temperatures. Liquid sodium is used as a coolant instead. Because liquid sodium is highly reactive (see Sections 2.2 and 13.11) it tends to attack the walls of its container, and great care must be taken in handling and monitoring the cooling system. The principal reason that scientists are trying to develop nuclear power plants that utilize fusion rather than fission is because fusion reactions produce less radioactive waste material than fission reactions. At the present time, however, all working - nuclear power plants use fission as the source of energy. Section 22.3 Radioactivity Nuclear Stability There are more than 2600 known nucides, of which less than 300 are stable (refer to Table 22.3). The majority of nuclides are unstable and spontaneously decay, usually by emitting radiation. The decay process changes the unstable nuclide into a different L- nuclide. Often the new nuclide is also unstable and there is a complex decay scheme until a stable nucleus is finally achieved. The most important factor in determining nuclear stability is the ratio of neutrons to protons in the nucleus. If we plot the number of neutrons, Nas a function of the number of protons, Z, for all the stable nuclei, w.find-thaj,here is a belt of stability: A band of values of the ratio of neutrons to protons (n/p) within which all the stable nuclei lie. This is shown in Fig. 22.5. For light nuclei, up to Z=20 (calcium), most stable nuclei have equal numbers of protons and neutrons, and the ratio n/p=1 provides the most stability. As Z inc reases, the coulombic repulsive force between the protons increases, andthe number of neutrons in the nucleus must become larger than the number of protons in order for a nucleus to be stable. By increasing the number of neutrons, the size of the nucleus increases, diminishing the coulombic repulsions somewhat and increasing the to nuclear binding forces. As Z increases above 20, therefore, the value of the n/p ratio necessary for stability increases above unity, and reaches a value of 1.5 abou Z = 80. Table 22.4 summarizes the values of n/p that lie on the belt of stability a selected values of Z.

Note that the belt of stability terminates at Z= 83 (bismuth). For higher Z, all isotopes are unstable, although some have very long half-lives. For example, the half-life of 238U is 4.5 X

109 year. It is important to remember that the value of n/p that achieves stability is not unique, but covers a small range. Tellurium, for instance, has seven stable isotopes with mass numbers 122126, 128, and 130. Since Z= 52 for tellurium, the range of values of n/p for stable nuclei varies from 70/52 =1.35 to 78/52 =1.50 for Z = 52. The preceding element, antimony, has only two stable nuclei, , so that the n/p range for Z= 51 is 70/51 = 1.37 to 72/5 1 = 1.41. Elements with odd Z usually have a smaller range of n/p values for stable nuclei.

Shell Model of the Nucleus One might well inquire why, if adding neutrons tends to diminish the coulombic repulsions between the protons within a nucleus, nuclei are unstable if the value of n/p increases above a certain figure. Why do we observe a belt or band of stability, rather than just a minimum value of n/p required for stability? This phenomenon has been explained by the shell model of the nucleus. Nuclei with 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, or 126 neutrons or proton are particuLarIy stable and abundant in nature, and nuclei that have 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, or l26 neutrons are observed to be unusually inert with respect capturing neutrons that are projected at them. This suggests that there are shells of nucleons that are filled wThen either the number of neutrons or protons is 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82 or 126. These numbers are referred to as nuclear magic numbers. Protons and neutrons exist in separate shells. Thus nuclei with either Z= 50 (Sn) or N= 50 are unusually stab1e, but nuclei with N + Z = 50 are not. One exceptionally stable nucleus, and the end product of many radioactive decay schemes, is ,forwhich Z= 82 and N=26, so that there is a closed (filled) shell of both neutrons and protons. After a shell of neutrons is filled, any additional neutrons must enter a higher energy shell. This results in decreased stability. Careful mass measurements for nuclides in the neighborhood of N= 50, 82, and 126 and Z = 28, ,50, and 82, have shown that the first nucleon outside one of these closed shells is alys weakly bound. The decrease in stability that occurs when neutrons must be added to high energy neutron shells is considered to be responsible for the fact that nuclei with too large an n/p ratio are unstable.

Beta Decay for Neutron-Rich Nuclei Nuclei lying above the belt of stability are neutron-rich, that is, the value of n/p is too high for the nucleus to be stable. Such nuclei achieve stability by emitting beta minus (-) particles, which are electrons. As there are no electrons inside the nucleus, this process can be pictured as a transformation of a neutron in the nucleus to a proton and an electron, with the subsequent emission of the electron from the nucleus. The process xxx decreases the number of neutrons by 1 and increases the number of protons by 1, therefore n/p is decreased. A spontaneous -decay process releases energy, and although there is no change in the mass number A, there is a slight decrease in the exact nuclear mass. The heavier nuclide decays to the lighter one, and the decrease in mass appears principally as the kinetic energy of the products. Two examples of decay are Xxx

for which the initial value of n/p is 8/6 1.33, which is too large for stability at Z= 6, so that decay occurs to produce a nucleus with n/p= 7/7 =1.0, and gambar xxx for which the initial value of n/p=67/49=1.367 (too large) and the product nucleus has n/p = 66/50=1.320. To calculate the energy released in reaction (22-18), we must compare the mass of a atom with the mass ofa neutral N atom, because the right-hand side consists of a N ion plus an electron. (Recall that afi particle is an electron.) The two species on the right-hand side therefore have the same mass as a neutral 1N atom. Gambar xxx

The energy equivalent to this mass loss is gambar xxx We might, therefore, expect that the emited - particles will have a kinetic energy equal to 0.1560 MeV. Experiment shows, however, that the emission of - particles is more complex than this. When the energies of - particles emitted by 14C are investigated, it is found that every value between 0 and 0.1560 MeV is observed. A plot of the number ofelectrons emitted per unit time as a funct ion of the energy of the emitted electrons produces the spectrum shown in Fig. 22.6. very few of the emitted - particles are observed to have a kinetic energy equal to 0.1560 MeV; most have kinetic energies roughly one third this value. Conservation of energy requires that the difference between 0.1560 MeV and the actual energy of the rays be accounted for. In 1931, Enrico Fermi, elaborating on a suggestion of Wolfgang Paulis, proposed that the only way to account for the energy difference is to assume that another particle is emitted simultaneously with the - particle. Experiments to observe such a particie during the 1930s proved that no charged particle or particle of significant mass is emitted. Fermi therefore proposed that the additional particle be called a neutrino, indicating a tiny, uncharged particle, of almost zero mass. It was not until 1956, twenty five years after Fermis original proposal, that the neutrino was actually detected, and shown to have the properties predicted for it. When any neutron-rich unstable nucleus decays, emitting a - particle, a neutrino (denoted v) is emitted simultaneously. Equation (22-18) should threfore.be written more exactly as Gambar xxx 22.3 Radioc-:ivirv 851 Decay Processes for Neutron-Poor Nuclei Nuclei that lie below or to the right of the belt of stability have too small an n/p ratio to ileey must decrease the number of protons, and/or increase the number of iiions in order to achieve stability. There are three different decay processes that serve to increase the n/p ratio. These are (1) electron capture, (2) positron emission, f and (3) alpha (a) decays Of these, a decai ro servec1nly for very heavy elements, geiaflZ> 80, and it is only for heavy

elements that a decay increases the n/pJ ratio. Electron Capture Electron capture involves the capture by the nucleus of one of the atoms orbital electrons, followed by conversion of a proton to a neutron and emission of a neut rino. The orbital electron captured is usually from the K shell (the shell with the two is electrons), and the processis then also called K capture. Sometimes L shell electrons are captured. Examples of electron capture (EC) are 2Pb - 2Tl + v (22-20) and Au -- Pt + v (22-21) For reaction (22-21) note that the unstable gold nucleus has 16 neutrons and 79 protons, for an n/p ratio of 1.468. The value 1.468 is too low for Z = 79. The capture of an orbital electron, which combines with a proton in the nucleus to form a - neutron, increases the number of neutrons to 11.7 while decreasing the number of protons to 78. The ratio n/p becomes 117/78 = 1.50, and Pt is a stable nuclide. After electron capture, the new nucleus has the same mass numberA. but one less proton than the original. The kinetic energy of the emitted neutrino has a fixed value equal to the energy eq iivaThnie mass.1Ice. between pareflt and ater atoms. The capture of an electron is followed by transitions of the orbital electrons. If a K shell electron is captured, there is a vacancy in the K shell. An L shell electron may then drop down into that vacant spot with emission of radiation in the X-ray region. L_. Sufficient transitions of orbital electrons occur until there are no vacancies in inner electron. shells. Positron Emission An unstable nucleus with an n/p ratio too low for stability may also emit a positron, flf, a particle with the same mass as an electron but a positive charge equal in magnitude to the electronic charge. Positron emission converts a proton in the,, nucleus into a neutron: p n+fl.Anexmppfpositron emission is Note that a neutrino is eniitted simultaneously with a positron,just as a neutrino is. emitted simultaneously with flemission. Anyfi-decay process involves the simultan eous emission of a neutrino.* Since the original 9Ne atom had 10 orbital electrons, there are still 10 electrons around the product F nucleus, and hence it is an F ion that is the initial decay S52 Radioacthifj and Nuclear Chc,nis(ry product. The right-hand side of Eq. (22.22) therefore has the mass of a neutral F atom plus the mass of one electron plus the mass of one positron. Since an electron and a positron have the same mass, the right-hand side of Eq. (22-22) has the mass ofa atom plus the mass of two electrons. The mass loss when reaction (22-22) occurs is therefore massofI9Ne_maSSOf9Fm0f2 The mass of an dcc IT3 6X10 amu, while that of Ne is 19.00 1892 amu and of F is 18.99840 amu. The energy released when reaction (22-22) occurs is therefore [19.00 1892 18.99840 2(5.486 X 10k)] (931.5 = 2.231 MeV amu/ Consider a neutron-poor unstable nucleus with atomic number Z and mass numb er A. We use

the symbol AZ to denote the nuclide. How can we tell whether this nuclide will decay by fi emission or by electron capture? In both cases the daughter (product) nuclide has atomic number one less than the parent nuclide, and can be denoted 4(Z 1). The two processes can therefore be symbolized as: (electron capture) Z --+ 4(Z 1) v (22-23) (fi+ emission) AZ . A(Z 1) + fl + v (22-24) A decay process is possible only if accompanied by the release of energy. For fl emission, Eq. (22-24), the mass of the right-hand side is that of a neutral 4(Z 1) atom plus the mass of two electrons. In order for energy to be released, the total mass of the right-hand side must be less than the mass of the left-hand side, or jIEAZ] > M[A(Z 1)] + 2M[ej where M[AZ] is the mass in atomic mass units of the neutral atom with atomic number Zand mass number A. The energy equivalent of two electrons is 2(5.4858 X i0 amu) (931.5 MeVamu) = 1.022 MeV so that the energy criterion for fl emission is (M[AZ] M(Z 1)]) (931.5)> 1.022 MeV (22-25) The energycriterin for electron capture, Eq. (22-23), is simiJ (22-26) Thus ifM4ZJ exceeds M(Z 1)] by less than the mass of two electrons (equival ent in energy to 1.022 MeV), electron capture is possible but positron emission is not. If Eq. (22-25) is valid, both positron emission and electron capture are possible. Positron emission and electron capture are then competing processes and it is not possible to predict with certainty which will occur. In many cases, both electron capture and /3 emission occur. For neutron-poor nuclei, e ctron capture ccurs more often when Z is large, because for heavier nulei the mass c ange vi a decrease of atomic number by 1 is not large enough for fi emission. Positron emission occurs more often than electron capture when Z is small. If Z < 30, isotopes that are neutron-poor almost always undergo positron emission. There are exceptions to this generalization; Be, for example, undergoes electron capture. If Z> 70, electron capture is more likely than positron emission. Gambar xxx

Table 22.5 summarizes the decay processes observed for the isotopes of carbon, which illustrate the decay of neutron-rich and neutron-poor nuclei for low values of Z. a Decay For nuclei with very large Z, the third process by which the n/p ratio can be is the emission of an a-particle. All the elements above Ph, Z = 82, have some / isotopes that emit a-particles, and a few elements between Z = 60 and Z = 82 are j C. also a emitters. An a-particle consists of two protons plus two neutrons, so that a) decay results in a decrease of the mass number by 4 and a decrease in the atomic number by 2. Let us consider the following example of an unstable nucleus that emits a-particles:

gambar xxx

The initial product is a Pb2 ion because there are still the 84 orbital electrons of the Po atom. As the a-particles collide with molecules in the air or with the product 204Pb2 ions, they quickly pick up electrons and become helium gas. The final products of this decay are neutral 204Pb atoms and He gas. Note that the decay process, Eq. (22-27) has increased the n/p ratio. The original n/p ratio for 208Po was 124/84 1.476, which is too low for Z = 84. The product nucleus, 204Pb, has an n/p ratio of 122/82 = 1 .48, and is one of the four stable isotopes of lead. To calculate the energy released in the decay of208Po, we note that the right-hand side ofEq. (22-27) has the mass ofa neutral 204Pb atom plus a neutral atom. Since the mass of 208Po is 207.98126 amu, while the mass of 204Pb is 203.97307 and the mass ofHe is 4.00260 amu, the mass loss when 208Po decays is 207.98 126 203.97307 4.00260 = 0.00559 amu The energy released is therefore gambar xxx 854 Radioactivity and Nuclear Chemistry The 5.21 MeV is shared by the two product nuclei, as the Pb nucleus recoils when the a-particle is emitted. (This is the same mechanical phenomenon as the recoil ofa rifle when it shoots forth a bullet.) The law of conservation of momentum requires that each a-particle carry away (204/208) of the kine:ic energy, so that the a-parti:ies are emitted with a kinetic energy of ()5.21 MeV)= 5.11 MeV The remainder of the energy, or (4/208) (5.21) = 0.10 MeV, goes into the recoil of the Pb nucleus. It is characteristic of a decay that all the a-particles emitted have a sharply defined energy. This is in contrast to fi emission, which consists of a broad spectrum of energies due to the simultaneous emission o2 neutrin; Genei1ly the a-particles emitted on nuclear decay have energies between 3 and 9 MV ut because they are heavy and doubly charged they cannot penetraii-yfar into matter. A thick sheet of cardboard or a film of water a few millimeters in thickness is sufficient protection against a rays. The penetrating power of fi rays is greater than that of a rays.

Gamma-Ray Emission In addition to a decay and /1 decay (either fi or JJj, nuclei emit a third type of radiation, y rays. Gamma rays are not material particles, but are electromagnetic radiation, or photons, of very short wavelength. Since the relation between frequency and wavelength is 2v = c [see Eq. (126)], a short wavelength is synonymous with a high frequency. As the energy of a photon is hv, high frequency means high energy. Gamma rays are therefore high energy radiation. The emission of gamma rays is analogous to the emission of light in electronic transitions, as in the emission spectra of atoms, which was discussed in Section 12.2. Nuclei, like electrons, can exist in a discrete set of a112wecl of a nu1ir adna1 er ted states An excited state of a ns is referred tias an kniperiate. A y ray is emitted during a transition from alifgher energy isomeric state to the nuclear ground state or to a lower energy isomeric state. Consider the decay of the unstable nucleus Cs, for which the n/p ratio is 82/55 = 1.491, a value

too large for stability at Z = 55. The !37Cs nucleus decays by emitting simultaneously a fi particle and a neutrino, but the product nucleus is an excited or isomeric state of Ba, denoted 375Ba. The isomeric state further decays to the ground state of 37Ba by emission of a y ray The total decay scheme is illustrated in Fig. 22.7. The y ray emitted by lmBa has a wavelength 2 = 0.0188 A or 1.88 pm. That is a very short wavelength, and the photons emitted have an energy of 0.66 MeV. Note particularly that the energy differences fOr nuclear transitions are much greater than for electronic transitions. RecaU that transitions in the spectrum of atomic hydrogen

gambar xxx

(Sections 12.2 and 12.3) arc of the order ofa few electron volts. Nuclear transitions are about a million times larger, that is, they are of the order of 1 MeV (million electron volts). An isorneric nucleus that is used extensively in medicine is 99Tc, which decays to the ground state with a 6.0 h half-life, emitting a y ray of 0.1427 MeV. The relatively short half-life makes this nucleus particularly useful. An injection ofTc bound to other substances that accumulate in specific organs such as the lung or liver, allows for a photographic scan of the organ that is used to diagnose abnormalities such as tumors or damaged tissue.

Section 22.4 Naturally Occurring Radioactive Substances All elements found in nature with atomic numbers greater than 83 (bismuth) are radioactive. They belong to one of three radioactive decay series, chains of successive decays that begin with a parent nucleus of very long half-life. All the isotopes prod uced in one such chain of decays constitute a radioactive series. The Uranium Series The parent nucleus of the uranium series is 238U, which has a half-life of 4.5 X I 0 yr. After 14 successive decays, 8 by emission of an a-particle and 6 by emission of a fi particle, a stable isotope, 206Pb, is produced: Because the atomic mass number, A, decreases by 4 after a emission, and does not change at all following fi emission, all isotopes in this series have mass numbers less than 238 by multiples of 4, that is, 238, 234,230, and so on, down to 206. Any one of these numbers can be written as 4n + 2, where n is an integer, and o the uranium series is also known as the 4n + 2 series (see Fig. 22.8). The Thorium Series The parent nucleus of the thorium series iTh, which has a half-life of 1.39 X lOb yr. The stable end product of this series is 208Pb. All isotopes in this series have mass