Physics 4E03

Test 2
March 20, 2002

(1) Above the energy gap corresponding to the magic number 28, the shell model states are
2 p3 2 , 1 f 5 2 , 2 p1 2 , 1g 9 2 , 1g 7 2 , 2d 5 2 , 2d 3 2 , 3s1 2 , and 1h11 2 (in increasing order of

energy). 50 and 82 are also magic. Predict the I π values for the ground state and first excited
131 131
state in 49 In and 50 Sn .

180
(2) Interpret the following nuclear spectra of Hf :
72

E(kev) Iπ
0 0+
93.3 2+
309.3 4+
641.7 6+

Is it a rotating nucleus or a vibrating nucleus? If it is a rotating body, calculate its moment

of inertia. If it is a vibrator, what is the energy of the phonon?

14
(3) C beta decays with a half life of 5730 years.

(a) Complete the symbolic expression associated with the decay process:

14
6 C → 147N + ?

12 14
(b) While they are living, organic bodies continuously take in both C and C , so
14 12
their ratio of C to C is about constant, 1.3 × 10 . After a body dies, no more
-12

14 14
C is taken in, and the C present at death continuously decreases from
radioactive decay. By measuring the decay rate per gram of a substance, we can
calculate when it died. If the measured beta decay rate for 150 g of carbon from a
skeleton is 500 decay/minute, how long has the skeleton been dead?
(4) In the decay
228
90Th → Ra + α , the highest energy α particle has an energy 5.423
224
88

Mev and the next highest energy is 5.341 Mev.

224
(a) The highest energy decay populates the Ra ground state. Why is it natural to expect
this to be so?
(b) Compute the Q values for the decay from the measured α energies.
224
(c) Compute the energy of the first excited state of Ra .

(5)
(a) What is the first condition for having α , β −, β + decay and electron capture.
(b) Calculate the Q -value in Mev for each of the following nuclear change:
18
9 F → 188O ( β + decay)
20
9 F → 1020Ne ( β − decay)

Atomic mass
symbol Z Mass (u)
n 0 1.00866501
1
H 1 1.007825
4
He 2 4.002603
14
C 6 14.003242
14
N 7 14.003074
228
Th 90 228.028715
224
Ra 88 224.020186
20
F 9 19.999981
18
F 9 18.000937
18
O 8 17.999160
20
Ne 10 19.992436

Constants:
Electron mass = me = 5.485803 × 10–4 u = 0.511 Mev/c2
NA = 6.022045 × 1023 mole–1
1 u = 1.660566 × 10–27 kg = 931.502 Mev/c2
1 = = 6.58217 × 10–16 ev.s

END