Chapter30

NuclearPhysicsand
Radioactivity

UnitsofChapter30
StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus
BindingEnergyandNuclearForces
Radioactivity
AlphaDecay
BetaDecay
GammaDecay
ConservationofNucleonNumberandOther
ConservationLaws

UnitsofChapter30
HalfLifeandRateofDecay
CalculationsInvolvingDecayRatesandHalf
Life
DecaySeries
RadioactiveDating
StabilityandTunneling
DetectionofRadiation

StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus
Anynucleusismadeupofprotonsandneutrons
Aprotonhasapositivechargeofe:
Aneutroniselectricallyneutral:
AgivenNucleushasthefollowingparticles
Totalnumberofnucleons:atomicmassnumber,A
Protonnumber:atomicnumber,Z
Neutronnumber:N=AZ

StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus
Notation:aspecificnucleusornuclidecanbe
specifiedas

Xisthechemicalsymbolfortheelement,Zmay
notbeincludedtheelementsymboldictatesZ
NucleiwiththesameZsotheyarethesame
elementbutdifferentA(andN)areisotopes.
Naturalabundanceisthepercentageofanelement
thatconsistsofaparticularisotopeinnature.

StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus
Becauseofwaveparticleduality,definingthesize
ofthenucleusissomewhatfuzzy.Measurements
usinghighenergyelectronscatteringyield:

AtomicMassesaremeasuredwithreferenceto
thecarbon12atom,whichisassignedamassof
exactly12u.uisanatomicmassunit.

StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus

AtomicMassesaremeasuredwithreferenceto
thecarbon12atom,whichisassignedamassof
exactly12u.uisanatomicmassunit.

StructureandPropertiesoftheNucleus

Notethatthemassofanelectronismuchless
thanthatofanucleon.

BindingEnergyandNuclearForces
Thetotalmassofastablenucleusisalwaysless
thanthesumofthemassesofitsseparatepieces;
theprotonsandneutrons.
Wherehasthemassgone?
Energy,asradiationorkineticenergy,isreleased
duringformationofanucleusbyfusionofsmaller
nuclei,givinganetmassdifference.
Thisdifferencebetweenthetotalmassofseparate
nucleonsandthemassofthefinalnucleusisthen
thetotalbindingenergyofthatnucleus.

BindingEnergyandNuclearForces
Tocomparehowtightlybounddifferentnucleiare,wedivide
thebindingenergybyAtogetthebindingenergypernucleon.

BindingEnergyandNuclearForces
Thehigherthebinding
energypernucleon,the
morestablethenucleus.
Moremassivenuclei
requireextraneutronsto
overcometheCoulomb
repulsionoftheprotons
inordertobestable.

BindingEnergyandNuclearForces
Theforcethatbindsthenucleonstogetheriscalled
thestrongnuclearforce.
Thisisaverystrong,butveryshortrange,force.
Itisessentiallyzeroifthenucleonsaremorethan
about10 15mapart,whichroughlycorrespondsto
thesizeofanucleus.TheCoulombforceislong
range;thisiswhyextraneutronsareneededfor
stabilityofhighZnuclei.

Unstablenucleidecay;somedecaysaregoverned
byanotherforce,calledtheweaknuclearforce.

Radioactivity
Towardstheendofthe19thcentury,mineralswere
foundthatwoulddarkenaphotographicplateeven
intheabsenceoflight.Thisphenomenonisnow
calledradioactivity.
MarieandPierreCurieisolatedtwonewelements
thatwerehighlyradioactive;theyarenowcalled
poloniumandradium.

Radioactivity
ThreetypesofRadioactiveRayswerefound
Alpharays,whichbarelypenetrateasheetofpaper
Betarays,whichcanpenetrate3mmofaluminum
Gammarays,whichpenetrateseveralcmoflead
Wenowknowthat
alpharaysareheliumnuclei,
betaraysareelectrons,and
gammaraysareelectromagneticradiation.

Radioactivity
RegularAlphaandBetaraysarebentinopposite
directionsinamagneticfield,thushaveopposite
charge;whilegammaraysarenotbentatall.

AlphaDecay
Exampleofalphadecay:
Radium226willalphadecaytoRadon222

AlphaDecay
Ingeneral,analphadecayprocesscanbewritten:

Alphadecayoccurswhenthestrongnuclear
forcecannotholdalargenucleustogether.
Themassoftheparentnucleusisgreaterthan
thesumofthemassesofthedaughternucleus
andthealphaparticle;thisdifferenceiscalled
thedisintegrationenergy.
Alphaparticlesthemselvesareverystable.

BetaDecay
Betadecayoccurswhenanucleusemitsan
electron.Anexampleisthedecayofcarbon14:

Thefinalnucleusstillhas14nucleons,butit
hasonemoreprotonandonefewerneutron.
Thisdecayisanexampleofaninteraction
thatproceedsviatheweaknuclearforce.

BetaDecay
Theelectroninbetadecayisnotanatomic
orbitalelectron;itiscreatedinthedecay.
Thefundamentalprocessisaneutrondecaying
toaproton,electron,andneutrino:

Theneedforaparticlesuchastheneutrino
wasdiscoveredthroughanalysisofenergy
andmomentumconservationinbetadecay
itcouldnotbeatwoparticledecay.

BetaDecay
Neutrinosarenotoriouslydifficulttodetect,asthey
interactonlyweakly,anddirectevidencefortheir
existencewasnotavailableuntilmorethan20yrs
hadpassedaftertheywerepredicted.
ThesymbolfortheneutrinoistheGreekletternu,
Wecanwritethebetadecayofcarbon14as:

BetaDecay
Betadecaycanalsooccurwherethenucleusemits
apositronratherthananelectron:

Anucleuscanalsocaptureoneofitsinner
electrons.

GammaDecay(orEmission)
Gammaraysareveryhighenergyphotons.They
areemittedwhenanucleusdecaysfromanexcited
statetoalowerstate,justasphotonsareemittedby
electronsreturningtoalowerstate.

ConservationofNucleonNumberand
OtherConservationLaws
Anewconservation
lawbecomesevident
bystudyingdetailsof
radioactivedecay:
thetotalnumberof
nucleonscannot
change.

HalfLifeandRateofDecay
Nucleardecayisarandomprocess;decayofany
nucleusisnotinfluencedbythedecayofanyother.

HalfLifeandRateofDecay
Therefore,thenumberofdecaysinashorttime
intervalisproportionaltothenumberofnuclei
presentandtothetimeinterval:

Here,isaconstantcharacteristicofthat
particularnuclide,calledthedecayconstant.

HalfLifeandRateofDecay
Thisrateequationcanbesolvedusingcalculus,the
resultforNasafunctionoftimeis

HalfLifeandRateofDecay
Thehalflifeofaparticularnuclideisthetimeit
takesforhalfthenucleiinagivensampleto
decay.Thisisrelatedtothedecayconstantby

Itisoftenmoreusefulincalculationstothinkin
termsofanexponentiallifetime, = 1 /
OnealsothenhasT1/2 = 0.693

DecaySeries
Adecayseriesoccurswhenoneradioactive
isotopedecaystoanotherradioactiveisotope,
whichdecaystoanother,andsoon.Thisallows
thecreationofnucleithatotherwisewouldnot
existinnature.

TheNuclear
DecaySeries
startingfrom
238
U

RadioactiveDating
Radioactivedatingcanbedonebyanalyzingthe
fractionofcarboninorganicmaterialthatiscarbon14.
Theratioofcarbon14tocarbon12intheatmosphere
hasbeenroughlyconstantoverthousandsofyears.A
livingplantortreewillbeconstantlyexchanging
carbonwiththeatmosphere,andwillhavethesame
carbonratioinitstissues.

RadioactiveDating
Whentheplantdies,thisexchangestops.Carbon14
hasahalflifeofabout5730years;itgradually
decaysawayandbecomesasmallerandsmaller
fractionofthetotalcarbonintheplanttissue.This
fractioncanbemeasured,andtissueagededuced.
Objectsolderthanabout60,000yearscannotbe
datedthiswaythereistoolittlecarbon14left.
Otherisotopesareusefulforgeologictimescale
dating.Uranium238hasahalflifeof4.5x109years,
andhasbeenusedtodatetheoldestrocksonEarth
asabout4billionyearsold.

StabilityandTunneling
Whenanucleusdecaysthroughalphaemission,
energyisreleased.Whyisitthatthesenucleido
notdecayimmediately?
Theansweristhat,althoughenergyisreleasedin
thedecay,thereisstillanenergybarrier:

StabilityandTunneling
Thealphaparticlecanescapethroughaquantum
mechanicalphenomenoncalledtunneling.
AsstatedintheHeisenberguncertaintyprinciple,
energyconservationcanbeviolatedaslongasthe
violationdoesnotlasttoolong:

StabilityandTunneling
Thehighertheenergybarrier,thelesstimethe
alphaparticlehastogetthroughit,andtheless
likelythatistohappen.Thisaccountsforthe
extremelywidevariationinhalflivesforalphadecay.

DetectionofRadiation
Individualparticlessuchaselectrons,neutrons,
andprotonscannotbeseendirectly,sotheir
existencemustbeinferredthroughmeasurements.
Manydifferentdevices,ofvaryinglevelsof
sophistication,havebeendevelopedtodothis.

DetectionofRadiation
TheGeigercounterisagas
filledtubewithawireinthe
center.Thewireisathigh
voltage;thecaseis
grounded.Whenacharged
particlepassesthrough,it
ionizesthegas.Theions
cascadeontothewire,
producingapulse.

DetectionofRadiation
Ascintillationcounterusesa
scintillatoramaterialthatemits
lightwhenachargedparticlegoes
throughit.Thescintillatorismade
lighttight,andthelightflashesare
viewedwithaphotomultipliertube,
whichhasaphotocathodethat
emitsanelectronwhenstruckbya
photonandthenaseriesof
amplifiers.

DetectionofRadiation
Acloudchambercontainsasupercooledgas;
whenachargedparticlegoesthrough,droplets
formalongitstrack.Similarly,abubblechamber
containsasuperheatedliquid,anditisbubbles
thatform.Ineithercase,thetrackscanbe
photographedandmeasured.

DetectionofRadiation
Awiredriftchamberis
somewhatsimilarto,but
vastlymoresophisticated
than,aGeigercounter.
Manywiresarepresent,
someathighvoltageand
somegrounded;inaddition
tothepresenceofasignal,
thetimeittakesthepulse
toarriveatthewireis
measured,allowingvery
precisemeasurementof
position.

SummaryofChapter30
Nucleicontainprotonsandneutronsnucleons
Totalnumberofnucleons,A,isatomicmass
number
Numberofprotons,Z,isatomicnumber
Isotopenotation:
Nuclearmassesaremeasuredinu;carbon12is
definedashavingamassof12u

SummaryofChapter30
Differencebetweenmassofnucleusandmass
ofitsconstituentsisbindingenergy
Unstablenucleidecaythroughalpha,beta,or
gammaemission
Analphaparticleisaheliumnucleus;abeta
particleisanelectronorpositron;agammarayis
ahighlyenergeticphoton
Nucleiareheldtogetherbythestrongnuclear
force;theweaknuclearforceisresponsiblefor
betadecay

SummaryofChapter30
Electriccharge,linearandangularmomentum,
massenergy,andnucleonnumberareallconserved
Radioactivedecayisastatisticalprocess
Thenumberofdecaysperunittimeisproportional
tothenumberofnucleipresent:

Thehalflifeisthetimeittakesforhalfthe
nucleitodecayT1/2=0.693/