KS4 Physics

Radioactive Decay

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Contents

Radioactive Decay
Rutherford's experiments

Notation
Radioactive decay & half-life Nuclear power

Summary activities
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Radioactive waste
Radioactive waste from nuclear power stations is an environmental concern. The problem is the waste stays radioactive for thousands of years.

The current solutions are:

1. Store it at the nuclear power station until is full. 2. Dump it far out at sea.

3. Store it deep underground in non-permeable rock.

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Radiation questions
1. What are the three types of radiation? Alpha, beta and gamma

2. Which type of radiation is the most penetrating?

Gamma 3. Why is radioactive waste not stored in permeable rock? It could contaminate water that seeps through the rock. 4. Why should nuclear power stations not be situated in geologically active regions? Earthquakes could cause radioactive spills.

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What we used to think

Scientists once believed that atoms were spheres of positive charge with negative charges spread throughout.

This resembled a plum-pudding, so it was called the plum-pudding model. This was wrong! How did we discover current ideas about the structure of the atom?

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Rutherford's team
Ernest Rutherford and his team of scientists performed a famous experiment in Manchester.
They fired alpha particles at a piece of very thin gold foil (only a few atoms thick). If the plum-pudding model of the atom was correct, the alpha particles should pass straight through and only be slightly deflected.

This did not happen.

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What Rutherfords team observed

1. Most of the alpha particles went straight through the foil.

2. Some alpha particles were deflected through large angles.

3. A very few alpha particles were reflected straight back.

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Rutherfords conclusions

Observation
Most alpha particles went straight through the foil. A few were deflected through large angles. A very few were reflected straight back.

Conclusion
Atoms are mostly space. The nucleus is very small compared to the size of the atom and it contains most of the mass and all the positive charge.

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Task
Pretend you are Ernest Rutherford and you have just completed your investigation.

Write a letter to a fellow scientist describing your observations and findings. Include the impact you think it will have on current thinking.

Dear Dr Banner,
I am writing to

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Contents

Radioactive Decay
Rutherford's experiments

Notation
Radioactive decay & half-life Nuclear power

Summary activities
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Notation
Mass number (A) The number of protons plus the number of neutrons in a neutral atom.

X
Z

Element symbol

Atomic number (Z) The number of protons (which is the same as number of electrons) in a neutral atom.
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Notation exercise
Name the elements below and calculate how many protons (P), neutrons (N) and electrons (E) they have.

12

75

127

C
6
carbon P = 6 N=6 E=6
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As
33
arsenic P = 33 N = 42 E = 33

I
53
iodine P = 53 N = 74 E = 53
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Notation exercise
Calculate how many protons (P), neutrons (N) and electrons (E) these atoms have.

12

13

14

C
6
P=6 N=6 E=6
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C
6
P=6 N=7 E=6

C
6
P=6 N=8 E=6
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Isotopes and radioisotopes

These atoms are all carbon what is the difference between them? They have different numbers of neutrons.

12

13

14

C
6 6

C
6

C
Isotopes

What are atoms of the same element with different numbers of neutrons called?

What are isotopes that are unstable and emit radiation to become more stable called?
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Radioisotopes

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Contents

Radioactive Decay
Rutherford's experiments

Notation
Radioactive decay & half-life Nuclear power

Summary activities
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Radioactive decay
Why is it that there are different types of radiation?

What is going on inside the nucleus?

The three types of decay are

gamma
alpha

beta

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Alpha decay
alpha particle (helium nuclei) 2 neutrons and 2 protons are emitted from the nucleus.
238

What is emitted? Description of decay:

Example of decay:

234

Th + + energy
2

92

90

Effect on A and Z:

A decreases by 4 (A 4) Z decreases by 2 (Z 2)

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Beta decay
What is emitted? High-energy electron 1 neutron in the nucleus decays into a proton and a high-energy electron, which is emitted.
14

Description of decay:

Example of decay:

14 7

N + + energy
-1

Effect on A and Z:

A stays the same (A) Z increases by 1 (Z + 1)

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Gamma decay
High-energy electromagnetic radiation

What is emitted?

Description of decay:

nucleus changes shape into a more stable shape, resulting in gamma radiation being emitted

Effect on A and Z:

A stays the same (A) Z stays the same (Z)

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Half-life
There are two definitions of half-life:

The time it takes the number of radioactive nuclei in a sample to decrease by 50%.

The time it takes the count rate from a radioisotope to decrease by 50%.

You must learn both of these definitions!

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Graphing half-life
Decay rate (counts/min) 80 60 40 20 2 4 6

How can you calculate the half-life of the radioisotope represented by this graph?
Calculate the time it takes the count rate to decrease from 80 per min to 40 per min. 2 mins Double-check that the time it takes the count rate to decrease from 40 per min to 20 per min is the same
8 Time (min)

2 mins

The half-life of the radioisotope is 2 mins.

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Contents

Radioactive Decay
Rutherford's experiments

Notation
Radioactive decay & half-life Nuclear power

Summary activities
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Carbon dating
All living things absorb a little radioactive carbon-14 when they feed and breathe, as well as the normal carbon-12. When living things die, they stop taking in carbon-14 and so the carbon-14 present at death slowly decays to carbon-12 (half-life is 5,600 years).

The amount of radioactivity from the decaying carbon-14 can be used to calculate the age of bones, wood, paper and cloth.

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Carbon dating: example

A fresh bone gives a radioactive count of 170 counts per minute. Another ancient bone of the same mass gives a count rate of 50 counts per minute. The background count is 10 counts per minute. How old is the bone?
Counts due to bones are 170 10 = 160 (fresh) and 50 10 = 40 (ancient) The count rate of the carbon-14 has fallen to one quarter of its original value, i.e. 160/2 = 80, 80/2=40. This is two half lives.

So the bone is 5,600 x 2 = 11,200 years old

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Nuclear power
When a nucleus decays it gives out heat energy. In a nuclear power station, the uranium-235 atoms decay and give out energy and neutrons.
Each time a uranium atom splits it produces 2 or 3 neutrons (depending on the reaction). These go on to hit other uranium atoms, which causes them to decay. A chain reaction is set up where more and more energy is released. In a nuclear reactor the process is carefully controlled so that neutrons are absorbed harmlessly and the energy released is controlled. In a nuclear bomb the reaction is not controlled, and this causes the explosion!
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Nuclear power fission

Fast neutron from previous decay cause the uranium nucleus to split.

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Nuclear power
Kr n n n

more decays

uranium
In this reaction, a neutron from a previous decay can lead to more and more decays.

Ba

This is called a chain reaction.

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Contents

Radioactive Decay
Rutherford's experiments

Notation
Radioactive decay & half-life Nuclear power

Summary activities
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Glossary

atomic number The number of protons in the nucleus of

an atom.

half-life The time it takes the number of radioactive nuclei

in a sample to decrease by 50%. This is also the time it takes the count rate from a radioisotope to decrease by 50%.

isotopes Different versions of the same element, which

have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons.

mass number The total number of protons and neutrons

in the nucleus of an atom.

radioisotope An natural or artificially-created isotope of

an element that is radioactive.
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Anagrams

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Multiple-choice quiz

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