NUCLEAR PHYSICS

 CONCERN OURSELVES WITH

REACTIONS INVOLVING THE
NUCLEUS OF THE ATOM
 1.1 Alpha Scattering Experiment
Provides evidence for the existence and structure
of the nucleus
Sulphide screen
Vacuum
chamber

Alpha source-
positively charged
helium ions
Gold foil
 1.2 MODEL OF THE ATOM

NUCLEUS 10-15m ORBITING

ELECTRON
(charge –1e)

PROTON NEUTRON
(no charge)-1800 times
(charge +1e)
heavier than electron
-1800 times heavier
than electron
10-10m
 2. Nuclides Notation
Sum of protons and neutrons
- nucleon number (mass number)

A
X
Symbol of element
eg. Na, Fe, H etc

Z No. of protons-
proton number
Nuclear Reactions
14 4 17 1
7 N  He O  H
2 8 1

 Proton number must be conserved

 Nucleon number must be conserved
 Mass-energy conservation
Nuclear Fission
 Heavy nuclides with high mass number
when bombarded with neutrons can
disintegrate into lighter nuclides,
releasing energy in the process

235 1 92 141 1
U  n Kr  Ba 3 n  energy
92 0 36 56 0
Nuclear Fusion
 nuclei with low mass number
combine to form more stable nuclei
of higher mass number, releasing
energy in the process

3 2 4 1
1 H  H  He n  energy
1 2 0
 1. Radioactive Decay
 a nuclear reaction with following characteristics:
 a ‘parent’ nuclide disintegrates to form stable
‘daughter’ nuclei
 spontaneous- not affected by external factors
e.g. temp, pressure, electric fields etc
 random- not possible to predict when or which
nuclide will disintegrate, can only do a statistical
prediction
 one or more of the following emissions as by-
products: alpha-particle, beta-particle and
gamma ray
 2.1 Alpha-particles ( )
Helium ions of charge +2e

4
Highly ionising-
2 He
able to knock electrons
Rather short range-
off surrounding atoms
stopped by 0.1 mm of Al
or 6 cm of air
Example of alpha decay

238 234 4
U  Th  He
92 90 2
 2.2 Beta-particles (𝛽−)

Not as ionising as

0
Rather long range

e
alpha-particles

1
Are electrons- but not those orbiting the nucleus,
originates from the nucleus
Example of beta decay

234 234 0
Th Pa  e
90 91 1
 2.3 Gamma-rays ( )
very high energy photon- short wavelength and


high frequency

Produced as a result
of transition between
energy levels

Very weakly ionising- extremely

penetrative, can only be stopped
by a few cm of lead
Effect of Electric Fields
+

( )

( )
-
Effect of Magnetic Fields
Magnetic field into plane of screen

( )

( )
 3. Detection (GM Tube)
2. Radiation knocks electron off argon
atoms-ionisation
3. Electrons
e attracted towards
e
positive electrode
1. radiation
to counter
e e
Positive electrode
Argon at low pressure
Thin mica window
3.1 Background Radiation
 GM tube will register counts even without
presence of radioactive material nearby
 radiation from sun, cosmic rays,
surroundings
 when taking counts from a radioactive
source, background count to be
subtracted
 significant only with material of low
radioactive activity
 Example 1
In the presence of a radioactive substance, a GM tube
recorded the following counts per minute over a 10 minute
interval. If the GM tube gave a reading of 25 in the absence of
the substance, recalculate the values to accurately record the
activity due to the substance only.

Time/min 0 2 4 6 8 10
Counts/min 56 50 62 45 54 59
Adjusted            
 Example 2
A 238
92 U nucleus, originally at rest, spontaneously decays to form a thorium (Th)

nucleus and an  -particle.

(a) Write down the equation for this disintegration.
(b) The  -particles produced in this disintegration travelled 25 mm in a cloud
chamber. Given that, on average, an  -particle creates 5.0  10 3 ion pairs per mm
of track in the cloud chamber, and that the energy required to produce an ion pair
is 5.2  10 18 J , find the kinetic energy with which the  -particle was emitted.
238 234 4
(a)
92 U  Th  He 90 2

(b) KE of alpha-particle

=(5.2 X 10-18 X 5.0 X 103 X 25)

= 6.5 X 10-13 J
4. Half-life- t1/2
Time taken for radioactive sample to reach
half of its original amount

t1/2 t1/2
 Radioactive Decay Law
N

No

1/2No t1/2

1/4 No t1/2
1/8 N0 t1/2

t/s
Half-lifes of isotopes
 Example 3
Six hours after a sample of the –emitter has been prepared, only 6.25 % of it remains
undecayed. What is the half life of this isotope?

100 % 50 % 25 % 12.5 % 6.25 %

t1/2=6/4=1.5 hrs
 Example 4
Living organism absorb radioactive carbon-14 and there is no further intake after
death. Due to the presence of this isotope which has a half-life of 5560 years, samples
of bones from an archaelogical site were found to have an average activity of –
particle of 16.0 units. Recent skeletons give an activity of 32.0. Estimate the age of
the archaelogical specimen.