NUCLEAR MODEL AND

THE SYNTHESIS OF NEW

ELEMENTS
 Learning Competency
• Explain how the concept of atomic number
lead to the synthesis of new elements in the
laboratory.
Recall
• Nucleosynthesis is a process of
forming atomic nuclei
• Three Types of Nucleosynthesis: Big
bang, Stellar and Supernova
Identify the mass number, number of protons, number of
neutrons, and the symbol for the missing elements.
 Radioactive element
• spontaneously emits particles
from its nucleus
• energy of the nucleus is unstable.
Examples of naturally occurring radioactive
elements
• Uranium
• Radium ,
• Carbon .
 Alpha decay
• emits an alpha particle from its nucleus.
alpha particle is a helium nucleus consisting of
2 protons and 2 neutrons. When an element
emits an alpha particle, its nucleus loses 2
atomic numbers and 4 mass numbers.
 Alpha decay
---- +
 2. Beta decay.
• A beta particle is the name given to an
electron emitted from the nucleus of a
radioactive element.
• The daughter element resulting from beta
decay is one atomic number higher than the
parent nucleus, but the mass number
essentially does not change.
--- +
3. Gamma decay.
Some radioactive elements emit a gamma ray, a
very high energy electromagnetic wave which
has no charge or mass, so only the energy of the
nucleus changes, and neither Z nor A change.
4. Positron decay (usually considered a form of
beta decay). A positron is exactly like an
electron except for the fact that it is positively
charged.
 NUCLEAR REACTION
• Processes that take place to produce new elements
happen in the nucleus of an atom.
1. Nuclear Fusion –occurs when small nuclei combine
into larger nuclei and energy is released.
2. Nuclear Fission – a process in which a large nucleus
splits in to smaller nuclei.
- usually caused artificially by shooting a slow neutron at
a large atom, such as uranium, which absorbs the
neutron and splits into two smaller atoms, along with the
release of more neutrons and some energy.
NUCLEAR FUSION

+ --- +
NUCLEAR FISSION
 NUCLEAR FISSION
• + --- + + 3 + energy
NUCLEAR REACTOR
Nuclear reactor – is the technology that
facilitates the generation of power through
nuclear energy.
Two principles when writing nuclear equation:
1. conservation of mass number
2. conservation of atomic number
Particle
accelerators are
machines used by
physicists to
accelerate
particles up to
high velocities.
Identify the element that will complete the nuclear equation
1. --- ________ +
2. --- _______ +
3. + --- +
4. + --- + _____
5. + --- _____ +
6. + --- ______ +
7. + ---__________ +

Identify the element that will complete the nuclear fission reaction
8. + ---_____ + + 4
9. --- + ________ + 2
10. --- + ________ + 3