I

In ordinary chemical combinations, only the electrons present in

the Outermost orbitlas are involved i.e. they are transferred from
one atoms to the other atom remain unaffected. However, there
are certain phenomena in which the nucleus of the atom is
involved. “The branch of chemistry dealing with the phenomena
involving the nuclei of the atoms is known as NUCLEAR
CHEMISTRY.
In fact, the only phenomena involving the nucleus of
an atom is RADIO ACTIVITY - both natural and artificial.

Nuclear chemistry is the sub-field of chemistry dealing

with radioactivity, nuclear processes, and transformations in the
nuclei of atoms, such as nuclear transmutation and nuclear
properties.

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The phenomenon of spontaneous emission of certain kinds of
radiations by some elements is called radioactivity or natural
radioactivity.

The phenomenon is which the artificial disintegration of a stable

nucleus leads to the formation of a radioactive isotope is called
artificial radioactivity.

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It has been found that the nuclei of those atoms are stable whose
ratio of the neutrons to protons (n/p ratio) lies in the range 1 to
1.5. If number of neutrons is plotted against the number of
protons, the table nucleus lie in a well defined belt, called
stability belt as shown in Fig. the nuclei with atomic number upto
20 have n/p ratio close to 1. The nuclei with n/p ration lying
above or below the stability particles so that their n/p ration falls
with in the stability belt. Loss of particle (2p and 2n)
increases the n/p ration where as loss of particles increases
the number of protons and hence decreases the n/p ratio.

IV
 It is observed that an applying the field, the rays emitted from
the radioactive substances are separated into three types
called rays.

The rays are deflected in a direction which shows that they

carry positive charges the rays are deflected in the opposite
direction and the rays are not deflected at all showing that
they carry no charge.

(i) The direction of deflection of the  rays in the electric and

magnetic field show that they carry positive charge. It is
found that each particle carries two units of positive
charges and has mass nearly four times that of hydrogen
atom.
(ii) The velocity of rays is found to be nearly 1/10 the 1/20 the
of that of light, depending upon the nature of source.

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(iii)  rays ionize the gas through which they pass.
(iv)  rays have low penetrating power. They can penetrate
through air only to a distance of about 7 cm.
(v)  rays affect a photographic plate and produce
luminescence when they strike a line sulphide screen.

(i) The direction of deflection of  rays in the electric and

magnetic fields shows that they carry negative charge. These
particles possess the same charge and mass as that of the
electrons.
(ii) The velocity of  rays depends upon the nature of the source.
The speed of  particles varies from 3% to 99% of that of
light i.e. in same cases it approaches the velocity of light.
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(iii) The ionizing power of  particles is about 1/100th of that
of  particles.
(iv) Their penetrating power is about 100 times greater than
that of  rays.
(v) Like rays,  rays affect a photographic plate and the effect
is much higher. However, there is no significant effect on a
zinc sulphide screen become of their lower kinetic energy.

(i) They are not deflected in the electric and magnetic fields
showing these by that they do not carry any charge.
(ii) They travel with the same velocity as that of light.
(iii) As they do not have any mass, their ionizing power is very
poor.

(iv) Their penetrating power is about 100 times more than that
of  rays. Thus they can penetrate through lead sheets as
thick as 150 mm.
(v)  rays have very little effect on the photographic plates or
zinc. sulphide screen.

VII
 The rate of disintegration depends only upon the nature of the
radioactive element and the radioactive disintegration follows
first order kinetics and hence the expression for the rate constant
().

Where “No is the number of the atoms taken initially.

and “N” is the number of atoms present at any instant of time.
The equation is also written as :

Where a is the amount of the radioactive substance initially

taken and a-x is the amount present at time t.

The half-life period of radioactive element is the time in which

half of the original substance disintegrate.

where  is disintegration constant.

The splitting of a heavier atom like that of uranium - 235 into a

number of fragments of much smaller mass by suitable

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 bombardment of huge amount of energy is called NUCLEAR
FISSION.

e.g. Huge amount of

energy.

Nuclear fusions is defined as a process in which

lighter nuclei fuse together to form a heavier nucleus.

H11 + H11 ----> H12 + e10

Deuterium Position

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