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When an unstable nucleus decays, there are three ways that it can do so.
It may give out:-
• Alpha radiation travels only a short distance (a few inches) in air, but is
not an external hazard.
Alpha Particles
Alpha particles are made of 2 protons and 2 neutrons.
• Gamma radiation or x rays are able to travel many feet in air and many
inches in human tissue. They readily penetrate most materials and are
sometimes called "penetrating" radiation.
• X rays are like gamma rays. X rays, too, are penetrating radiation.
Sealed radioactive sources and machines that emit gamma radiation
and x rays respectively constitute mainly an external hazard to
humans.
Radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus
spontaneously loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation. This
decay, or loss of energy, results in an atom of one type, called the parent
nuclide transforming to an atom of a different type, called the daughter
nuclide. For example: a carbon-14 atom (the "parent") emits radiation and
transforms to a nitrogen-14 atom (the "daughter"). This is a random process
on the atomic level, in that it is impossible to predict when a given atom will
decay, but given a large number of similar atoms the decay rate, on
average, is predictable.
Alpha Decay
In alpha decay, the nucleus emits an alpha particle; an alpha particle is essentially a helium
nucleus, so it's a group of two protons and two neutrons. A helium nucleus is very stable.
An example of an alpha decay involves uranium-238:
Beta decay
A beta particle is often an electron, but can also be a positron, a positively-charged particle that is
the anti-matter equivalent of the electron. If an electron is involved, the number of neutrons in
the nucleus decreases by one and the number of protons increases by one. An example of such a
process is:
In terms of safety, beta particles are much more penetrating than alpha particles, but much less
than gamma particles.
Gamma decay
The third class of radioactive decay is gamma decay, in which the nucleus changes from a
higher-level energy state to a lower level. Similar to the energy levels for electrons in the atom,
the nucleus has energy levels. The concepts of shells, and more stable nuclei having filled shells,
apply to the nucleus as well.
When an electron changes levels, the energy involved is usually a few eV, so a visible or
ultraviolet photon is emitted. In the nucleus, energy differences between levels are much larger,
typically a few hundred keV, so the photon emitted is a gamma ray.
Gamma rays are very penetrating; they can be most efficiently absorbed by a relatively thick
layer of high-density material such as lead.
A list of known nuclei and their properties can be found in the chart of the nuclides at the
Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Radioactive Decay Seiries
A radioactive decay series is the chain of decays that occur starting with a
radioactive isotope. An example of this is the uranium-radium series:
Radium-226 goes through five more decays and four more ß decays to
yield the non-radioactive isotope 206Pb, or lead. This series is also called the
4n+2 series, because the mass numbers of each of the isotopes in the series
can be represented by 4n+2, where n is an integer. The thorium series is a
4n series; it starts at thorium-232 and the end result is 208>Pb. The actinium
series, or 4n+3 series, begins with uranium-235 and ends at Pb-207.
256 →128
T1/2
Define Isotope
Isotopes (Greek isos = "equal", tópos = "site, place") are any of the different
types of atoms (nuclides) of the same chemical element, each having a
different atomic mass (mass number). Isotopes of an element have nuclei
with the same number of protons (the same atomic number) but different
numbers of neutrons. Therefore, isotopes of the same element have different
mass numbers (number of nucleons).
Radioisotope
Tracer Techniques
In medicine
Tracer technique is also used for the detection of thyroid disorder and
brain tumours.
Cancer therapy
In Agriculture
In Chemistry
To find the solubility of sparingly soluble salt like lead sulphate. A lead
salt containing known amount of radioactive lead is dissolved in water.
Sulphuric acid is added to the aqueous solution to precipitate lead as
lead sulphate.
The question is how does the elimination of water take place - does the
oxygen atom in water come from the alcohol or acid. This is studied by
labelling or tagging the oxygen in the alcohol molecule. In other words,
the alcohol is prepared with O18. Results show that the ester formed has
the radioactive oxygen. This shows that the starred oxygen comes from
the alcohol. Thus the -OH group of the acid and the H atom of the alcohol
are eliminated in the form of water.
Most of this damage is due to ionisation when the radiation passes, although
if levels of radiation are high there can be damage due to heating effects as
your body absorbs the energy from the radiation, rather like heating food in
a microwave oven. This is particularly true of gamma rays.
Alpha Particles ( )
Alpha particles are slow, have a short range in air, and can be stopped by a
sheet of paper.
You might therefore assume that alpha particles are the least dangerous of
the three types of radiation.
Beta Particles ( )
-particles have a longer range than 's, but ionise much less strongly,
with the result that they do around 1/20th of the damage done by the same
dose of alpha particles.
However, they do have more penetrating power, which means that they can
get through your skin and affect cells inside you.
Gamma Rays ( )
Gamma rays hardly ionise atoms at all, so they do not cause damage directly
in this way.
However, gamma rays are very difficult to stop; you require lead or concrete
shielding to keep you safe from them. When they are absorbed by an atom,
those atom gains quite a bit of energy, and may then emit other particles. If
that atom is in one of your cells, this is not good!
Nuclear Energy
Nuclear energy is released by the splitting (fission) or merging together
(fusion) of the nuclei of atom(s). The conversion of nuclear mass to energy is
consistent with the mass-energy equivalence formula ΔE = Δm.c², in which
ΔE = energy release, Δm = mass defect, and c = the speed of light in a
vacuum (a physical constant). Nuclear energy was first discovered by French
physicist Henri Becquerel in 1896, when he found that photographic plates
stored in the dark near uranium were blackened like X-ray plates, which had
been just recently discovered at the time 1895.
• The atomic mass unit it the unit of mass for atoms and subatomic
particles such as the proton, neutron an electron
∴ 1 u = 261099265.1121−×× kg
1 u = 1.66 x 10-27 kg
Mass defect
- The energy given off during either nuclear fusion or nuclear fission is the
difference between the binding energies of the fuel and the fusion or fission
products. In practice, this energy may also be calculated from the substantial
mass differences between the fuel and products, once evolved heat and
radiation have been removed.
- When the nucleons are grouped together to form a nucleus, they lose a
small amount of mass i.e. There is mass defect. This mass defect is released
as (often radiant) energy according to the relation E = mc2; thus binding
energy = mass defect * c2 . This energy holds the nucleons together and is
known as binding energy. In fact, mass defect is a measure of the binding
energy of the nucleus. The greater the mass defect, the greater is the
binding energy of the nucleus.
Nuclear Fussions
• Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy nucleus into two lighter nuclei
• The energy of the neutron causes the target nucleus to split into two (or
more) nuclei that are lighter than the parent nucleus, releasing a large
amount of energy during the process.
E = mc2
• A nuclear reactor
• Graphite moderator
- The boron control rods absorb neutrons. It can control the rate of
fission reaction. When rods are lowered into the reactor core to
absorb some of the neutrons, the rate of the fission reaction
reduced.
• Concrete shield
- Take away the heat from the nuclear reactor. Substances with
high specific heat capacity such as water and carbon dioxide are
used.
• Heat exchanger
- Heat energy from the very hot gas is used to boil the water into
steam
Fatigue
Skin burn
Spent fuel is highly radioactive and needs to be handled with great care and
forethought. However, spent nuclear fuel becomes less radioactive over the
course of thousands of years of time. After about 5 percent of the rod has
reacted the rod is no longer able to be used. Today, scientists are
experimenting on how to recycle these rods to reduce waste. In the
meantime, after 40 years, the radiation flux is 99.9% lower than it was the
moment the spent fuel was removed, although still dangerously radioactive.