Weexpectstablenucleitocorrespondtothosewith

thehighestbindingenergy.
ThebindingenergypredictedbytheSEMFdisagrees
strikinglyinsome(few)caseswiththemeasuredbinding
energyandthestabilityisn'talwayswhatweexpect.
Thesedisagreementshappenatpositionscorrespondingto
themagicnumbers:

Zand/orN=2,8,20,28,50,82,126
Evidenceformagicnumbers:
1.NucleipreferhavingmagicNorZ.ForZ=20,thereare
6stableisotopes.(Averageinthatregion~2.)ForZ=50,
thereare10.(Averageinthatregion~4.)
2.AverageE
b
pernucleonishigherfornucleiwith
ZorN=2or8thanforneighbouringnuclei.
Z=N=2(
4
He)istheoutstandingexample(doublymagic).
Theminimumenergyrequiredtoremovethelastproton
orneutronismuchhigherthanpredictedbytheSEMF.
Zand/orN=2,8,20,28,50,82,126
Thepresenceofmagicnumberssuggestsashellmodel.

NucleonsarefermionsPauliexclusionprincipleapplies.

Only2protons(neutrons)canoccupyaquantumstate,and...

Theymusthaveoppositespins.

Filledshellsarepreferable,i.e.havehigherbindingenergies.

MostneutronemittershaveN=magic#+1.
O
17
8
Kr
87
36
Xe
137
54
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
Anucleusofacertainnumberofnucleonsdecaysif:

itisputintoanenergystatewhichisnotthelowestpossible
energystateforthatnumberofnucleons.

thecombinedmassofthedecayproductsislessthanthe
massoftheinitialstate.
Inanynucleardecay,A,mass/energy,andchargeareconserved.
(Totalmassofinitialstate)(Totalmassoffinalstate)Q(energy).
Q>0reactionoccursspontaneously.
Q<0energymustbesupplied.
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
3typesofnucleardecays:
odecay:occurswithnucleithataretoolargetobestable.
(o =
4
Henucleus=2protons,2neutrons.)
decay:1.
-
decayoccurswhenN/Zistoolargeforstability.
(
-
=electron,e

.)
2.
+
decayoccurswhenN/Zistoosmallforstability.
(
+
=positron,e
+
.)
3.Electroncaptureoccurswhen
+
emissionis
kinematicallyforbidden.
ydecay:occurswhenanucleusisinanexcitedstate.
(y =photon.)
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
Differentpenetrationability
for3typesofnucleardecayparticles
oparticles:Gothroughafewcmofair,theninteractandstop.
Arestoppedbypaperorhumanskin.
Areextremelydangerousifinhaledoringested.
particles:Penetrateafewmmofaluminiumor
afewcmofhumanflesh.
Lesshazardousthanoparticles.
yrays:Canpenetrateseveralcmofleadormanycmof
humantissue.
Areaboutashazardousasparticles.
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
odecays:

M
Ra
=226.025403u
M
Rn
=222.017571u
M
o
=4.002603u
WhatisthevalueofQ(inMeV)forthisreaction?
Doesthereactionproceedspontaneously?
Whatisthekineticenergyoftheemittedo particle?
Ra
222
86

Rn
2
226
88
+
o
4
2
+ Q
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:
WecanpredicttheQforthisreactionandtheelectronwillhave
thatenergyexceptforatinybitfromtherecoilofthedaughter
nucleus,right?
Measurementsshowedthattheelectronhasenergyfrom0toQ.(?!)
Violationofconservationofenergy?Andangularand
linearmomentum?
Paulipostulatedthatanotherparticleispresent.
Theparticlemustinteractonlyweakly,havevirtually0mass,be
electricallyneutral,andbeaspinparticle.
+
N
14
7
C
14
6
+
0
1
e
Q....?
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:
WecanpredicttheQforthisreactionandtheelectronwillhave
thatenergyexceptforatinybitfromtherecoilofthedaughter
nucleus,right?
Measurementsshowedthattheelectronhasenergyfrom0toQ.(?!)
Violationofconservationofenergy?Andangularand
linearmomentum?
Paulipostulatedthatanotherparticleispresent.
Theparticlemustinteractonlyweakly,havevirtually0mass,be
electricallyneutral,andbeaspinparticle.
+
N
14
7
C
14
6
+
0
1
e
Q....?
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:takeplaceviathe
weakforce,afundamentalforce.
Thereisnoelectroninthenucleus.
Itisproducedviatheweakforce,
alongwithitspartner,
theelectronantineutrino.
H
3
2

He
+
3
1
0
1
+
e

+
e
__
+
y
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:(electronemission)
WhatistheQforthisreaction,theenergytobesharedby
theelectronandantineutrino?
M(
3
H)=3.016049u=massoftheneutralnuclide.
M(
3
He)=3.016029u=massoftheneutralnuclide.
The
3
Hewillbeproducedwithonly1electron,sincetherewas
only1intheinitialstate,butthemassshownincludes2electron
masses.Conveniently,thistakescareofthemassoftheemitted
electron!
Q=3.016049u3.016029u=0.000020u
Q=0.000020u931.494MeV/u=0.018630MeV=18.630keV.
H
3
2

He
+
3
1
+
0
1
+ e

+
e
__
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:(positronemission)
WhatistheQforthisreaction,theenergytobesharedby
thepositronandneutrino?
M(A,Z)=massoftheneutralnuclide.
M(A,Z1)=massoftheneutralnuclide.
X(A,Z1)willbeproducedwithZelectrons,sincetherewere
Zelectronsintheinitialstate,butthemassshownincludes
Z1electronmasses.Therefore,weneedtoaddanextraelectron
massforthedaughternuclide,plusoneforthepositron.
Q=M(A,Z){M(A,Z1)+2m(e)}
X
A
Z1

A
Z
+
0
+1
+ e
+
+
e
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
_
decays:(electroncapture)
WhatistheQforthisreaction?
M(A,Z)=massoftheneutralnuclide.
M(A,Z1)=massoftheneutralnuclide.
ThenucleusofX(A,Z)capturesanelectronthatwasalready
partoftheneutralnuclide.Noextraelectrons/positronsare
produced.
Q=M(A,Z)M(A,Z1)
X
A
Z1

A
Z
+
0
1
+
e

+
e
NuclearDecays
NuclearDecays
ydecays:
Aresidualnucleusisleftinanexcitedstateanddeexcites
tothegroundstatewiththeemissionofaphoton.
Similartoatomicdeexcitation,butmuchhigherenergy.
Atomic:AfeweV(canbeinthevisiblerange)
Correspondstoelectronictransitionswithintheatom.
Nuclear:MeV
Correspondstoachangewithinthenucleus.
X*
A
Z

X
A
Z
+
y
Activity
Nucleardecaysarearandomprocess.
Cannotpredictwhenanucleusdecays,canonlypredictaverage
behaviourforalargenumberofnuclei.
N(t)=Numberofradioactivenucleiinasampleattimet.
Theactivity,alsocalledthedecayrate,isthetimerateofchangeofN.
ItisproportionaltoN.
activity=
\isthedecayconstant.Itgivestheprobabilitypertimethatany
individualnucleuswilldecay.

dN
dt
=\N
Activity
IftheinitialnumberofradioactivenucleiinasampleisN(0)=N
0
,
then
N(t)=thenumberofradioactivenucleiremaininginthesample
aftertimet.
Thehalflife,T
1/2
isthetimerequiredforN(t)=N
0
.
TorelateT
1/2
to\:
Thelifetimeormeanlifetime,T
mean
isjust1/\.(..thetimeatwhich
thenumberofnucleiisreducedbyafactorofe,i.e.N/N
0
=1/e.)
Nt )=N
0
e
\t
1
2
=e
\T
1/ 2
T
1/ 2
=
ln2)
\
Units:1becquerel=1Bq
=1decay/sec.
1curie=1Ci
=Bq.
238
Puisanoemitterwithahalflife
of87.7years.Asamplehasan
activitythatis16timesgreater
thansafe.When,inyears,will
itbesafe?
...2waystodothis:math,or
physics.Eitherisfine.
Activity
T
1/ 2
=
ln2)
\
3.7010
10

dN
dt
=\N
Nt )=N
0
e
\t
T
mean
=
1
\
NuclearReactions
Someelementsarenaturallyradioactive.
Theyhavenucleithatarenaturallyunstable.
T
1/2
<~ageoftheuniverse(~10
9
years).
Nuclearreactionscanbeinitiatedinstable(ornot)
elementsbybombardinganucleuswithparticles.
(o,,n,etc.)
Wecanactuallymakeelementstransmuteintoother
elements.
2maintypesofnuclearreactions:
Fission
Fusion
NuclearReactions
Conservedquantities
1.Totalrelativisticenergy(mass+energy).
2.Linearmomentum.
3.Angularmomentum.
4.Charge.
5.Numberofnucleons.
6.Parity.
NuclearReactions
NuclearFission
Alargenucleussplitsinto2nucleiofapproximately
equalmass.(Likeodecay,butlargernuclei.)
Someveryheavynucleiundergospontaneous
fission,butfissionmayalsobeinduced,usuallyby
bombardmentwithneutrons(neutronactivation).
Example(nuclearreactors):
Howmuchenergydoeseachfissionrelease?
Countthephotonaspartoftheenergy.
235
92
U+
1
0
n-
90
38
Sr+
136
54
Xe+10
1
0
n+
0
0
y+K.E.
NuclearReactions
NuclearFission
Whywouldsomenucleisplit?
ConsideragaintheSEMF:
33
rd rd
term: term:Volumeterm.E Volumeterm.E
bb
nuclearmass,orvolume. nuclearmass,orvolume.
44
th th
term: term:Surfaceterm.E Surfaceterm.E
bb
surfacearea. surfacearea.
55
th th
term: term:Coulombterm.AccountsfortheCoulombenergyof Coulombterm.AccountsfortheCoulombenergyof
thenucleus. thenucleus.
ThevolumetermisthemaincontributiontoE ThevolumetermisthemaincontributiontoE
bb
.Theother .Theother
termscorrectit.Ifthenucleusisnotspherical,thecontributions termscorrectit.Ifthenucleusisnotspherical,thecontributions
fromthesurfacetermandtheCoulombtermchange. fromthesurfacetermandtheCoulombtermchange.
M Z , A)=1.007825uZ+1.008665u AZ)
a
1
A+a
2
A
2
3
+a
3
Z
2
A

1
3
+a
4
Z
A
2
)
2
A
1
!a
5
A

1
2
NuclearReactions
Chainreactionsoccurwhenenoughneutronsareproduced
tokeepthereactiongoingcontinuously.
k
number of neutrons produced at n+1)th stage
number of neutrons produced at nth stage
k=1 critical
k<1 subcritical
k>1 super
critical
NuclearReactions
NuclearFusion:
Lightnucleicombinetoformheavierones.Intheprocess,
energyisreleased.
Regionof
greateststability
F
u
s
i
o
n
F
i
s
s
i
o
n
NuclearReactions
NuclearFusion:Origins
Cloudsofcosmicgasanddustcoalescedundergravitational
forcestoformstars.Starsfusehydrogentoformhelium,and
thenheliumtoformcarbon(ifthey'reheavyenoughtohave
thegravitationalenergyrequiredtobringthenucleitogether).
Theprocesscontinuesupthrough
56
Fe.
IttakesadditionalenergytocreateelementswithA>56
becauseoftheirlowerE
b
.
Sowheredotheheavierelementscomefrom?Supernovae
explosionshavetherequiredgravitationalenergy.Allofthe
heavierelementsinusaresupernovaeremnants.
` Wearestardust`
NuclearReactions
NuclearFusion:Protonprotonchain
Thischainreleases~25MeVofenergy.
However,theparticlesneedenoughinitialenergytoovercome
theirCoulombrepulsioninordertogetcloseenoughforthe
nuclearforcetotakeeffect.
NuclearReactions
NuclearFusion:Protonprotonchain
Thischainreleases~25MeVofenergy.
However,theparticlesneedenoughinitialenergytoovercome
theirCoulombrepulsioninordertogetcloseenoughforthe
nuclearforcetotakeeffect.
1
1
H+
1
1
H-
2
1
H+
0
1
e++
e
1
1
H+
1
1
H-
2
1
H+
0
1
e++
e
2
1
H+
1
1
H-
3
2
He+y
2
1
H+
1
1
H-
3
2
He+y
3
2
He+
3
2
He-
4
2
He+
1
1
H+
1
1
H
NuclearReactions