Lecture PowerPoints

Chapter 30
Physics: Principles with
Applications, 7th edition
Giancoli

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for
the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning.
Dissemination or sale of any part of this work (including on the World Wide Web)
will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work and materials
from it should never be made available to students except by instructors using
the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to
abide by these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical purposes and
the needs of other instructors who rely on these materials.
 Chapter 30
Nuclear Physics and Radioactivity

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Contents of Chapter 30

• Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

• Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces
• Radioactivity
• Alpha Decay
• Beta Decay
• Gamma Decay
• Conservation of Nucleon Number and Other
Conservation Laws
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Contents of Chapter 30

• Half-Life and Rate of Decay

• Calculations Involving Decay Rates and Half-Life
• Decay Series
• Radioactive Dating
• Stability and Tunneling
• Detection of Particles

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

Nucleus is made of protons and neutrons

Proton has positive charge; here is its mass:
mp = 1.67262 × 10−27 kg
Neutron is electrically neutral, and slightly more massive
than the proton:
mn = 1.67493 × 10−27 kg

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

Neutrons and protons are collectively called nucleons.

The different nuclei are referred to as nuclides.
Number of protons: atomic number, Z
Number of nucleons: atomic mass number, A
Neutron number: N = A − Z

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

A and Z are sufficient to specify a nuclide. Nuclides are

symbolized as follows:

X is the chemical symbol for the element; it contains the

same information as Z but in a more easily recognizable
form.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

Nuclei with the same Z—so they are the same element—
but different N are called isotopes.
For many elements, several different isotopes exist
in nature.
Natural abundance is the percentage of a particular
element that consists of a particular isotope in nature.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

Because of wave-particle duality, the size of the nucleus

is somewhat fuzzy. Measurements of high-energy
electron scattering yield:

(30-1)

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

Masses of atoms are measured with reference to the

carbon-12 atom, which is assigned a mass of exactly
12u. A u is a unified atomic mass unit.
1 u = 1.6605 × 10−27 kg = 931.5 MeV/c2

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-1 Structure and Properties of the Nucleus

From the following table, you can see that the electron is
considerably less massive than a nucleon.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

The total mass of a stable nucleus is always less than the

sum of the masses of its separate protons and neutrons.
Where has the mass gone?

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

It has become energy, such as radiation or kinetic energy,

released during the formation of the nucleus.

This difference between the total mass of the constituents

and the mass of the nucleus is called the total binding
energy of the nucleus.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

To compare how tightly bound different nuclei are, we

divide the binding energy by A to get the binding energy
per nucleon.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

The higher the binding

energy per nucleon, the
more stable the nucleus.
More massive nuclei
require extra neutrons to
overcome the Coulomb
repulsion of the protons
in order to be stable.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

The force that binds the nucleons together is called the

strong nuclear force. It is a very strong, but short-range,
force. It is essentially zero if the nucleons are more than
about 10−15 m apart. The Coulomb force is long-range;
this is why extra neutrons are needed for stability in
high-Z nuclei.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-2 Binding Energy and Nuclear Forces

Nuclei that are unstable decay; many such decays are

governed by another force called the weak nuclear force.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-3 Radioactivity

Towards the end of the 19th century, minerals were found

that would darken a photographic plate even in the
absence of light.
This phenomenon is now called radioactivity.
Marie and Pierre Curie isolated two new elements that
were highly radioactive; they are now called polonium
and radium.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-3 Radioactivity

Radioactive rays were observed to be of three types:

1. Alpha rays, which could barely penetrate a piece of
paper
2. Beta rays, which could penetrate 3 mm of aluminum
3. Gamma rays, which could penetrate several
centimeters of lead
We now know that alpha rays are helium nuclei, beta
rays are electrons, and gamma rays are electromagnetic
radiation.
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 30-3 Radioactivity

Alpha and beta rays

are bent in opposite
directions in a
magnetic field, while
gamma rays are not
bent at all.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-4 Alpha Decay

Example of alpha decay:

Radium-226 will alpha-decay to radon-22

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-4 Alpha Decay

In general, alpha decay can be written:

Alpha decay occurs when the strong nuclear force cannot

hold a large nucleus together. The mass of the parent
nucleus is greater than the sum of the masses of the
daughter nucleus and the alpha particle; this difference is
called the disintegration energy.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-4 Alpha Decay

Alpha decay is so much more likely than other forms

of nuclear disintegration because the alpha particle
itself is quite stable.
One type of smoke detector uses alpha radiation—the
presence of smoke is enough to absorb the alpha rays
and keep them from striking the collector plate.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-5 Beta Decay

Beta decay occurs when a nucleus emits an electron. An

example is the decay of carbon-14:

The nucleus still has 14 nucleons, but it has one more

proton and one fewer neutron.
This decay is an example of an interaction that proceeds
via the weak nuclear force.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-5 Beta Decay

The electron in beta decay is not an orbital electron;

it is created in the decay.
The fundamental process is a neutron decaying to a
proton, electron, and neutrino:

The need for a particle such as the neutrino was

discovered through analysis of energy and momentum
conservation in beta decay—it could not be a two-
particle decay.
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 30-5 Beta Decay

Neutrinos are notoriously difficult to detect, as they

interact only weakly, and direct evidence for their
existence was not available until more than 20 years had
passed.
The symbol for the neutrino is the Greek letter nu (ν);
using this, we write the beta decay of carbon-14 as (the
bar over the neutrino means that it is an antineutrino):

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-5 Beta Decay

Beta decay can also occur where the nucleus emits a

positron rather than an electron:

And a nucleus can capture one of its inner electrons:

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-6 Gamma Decay

Gamma rays are very high-energy photons. They are

emitted when a nucleus decays from an excited state to
a lower state, just as photons are emitted by electrons
returning to a lower state.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-7 Conservation of Nucleon Number and
Other Conservation Laws

A new conservation law

that is evident by
studying radioactive
decay is that the total
number of nucleons
cannot change.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-8 Half-Life and Rate of Decay

Nuclear decay is a random process; the decay of any

nucleus is not influenced by the decay of any other.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-8 Half-Life and Rate of Decay

Therefore, the number of decays in a short time interval

is proportional to the number of nuclei present and to
the time:
(30-3a)

Here, λ is a constant characteristic of that particular

nuclide, called the decay constant.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-8 Half-Life and Rate of Decay

This equation can be solved, using calculus, for N as a

function of time:
(30-4)

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-8 Half-Life and Rate of Decay

The half-life is the time it takes for half the nuclei in a

given sample to decay. It is related to the decay constant:

(30-6)

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-10 Decay Series

A decay series occurs when one radioactive isotope

decays to another radioactive isotope, which decays to
another, and so on. This allows the creation of nuclei that
otherwise would not exist in nature.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-10 Decay Series

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-11 Radioactive Dating

Radioactive dating can be done by analyzing the fraction

of carbon in organic material that is carbon-14.
The ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the atmosphere
has been roughly constant over thousands of years. A
living plant or tree will be constantly exchanging carbon
with the atmosphere, and will have the same carbon ratio
in its tissues.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-11 Radioactive Dating

When the plant dies, this exchange stops. Carbon-14 has

a half-life of about 5730 years; it gradually decays away
and becomes a smaller and smaller fraction of the total
carbon in the plant tissue.
This fraction can be measured, and the age of the
tissue deduced.
Objects older than about 60,000 years cannot be dated
this way—there is too little carbon-14 left.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-11 Radioactive Dating

Other isotopes are useful for geologic time scale dating.

Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.5 × 109 years, and has
been used to date the oldest rocks on Earth as about
4 billion years old.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-12 Stability and Tunneling

When a nucleus decays through alpha emission, energy

is released. Why is it that these nuclei do not decay
immediately?
The answer is that,
although energy is
released in the
decay, there is still
an energy barrier:

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-12 Stability and Tunneling

The alpha particle can escape through a quantum

mechanical phenomenon called tunneling.
As stated in the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, energy
conservation can be violated as long as the violation
does not last too long:

(30-2)

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-12 Stability and Tunneling

The higher the energy barrier, the less time the alpha
particle has to get through it, and the less likely that is to
happen. This accounts for the extremely wide variation
in half-lives for alpha decay.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-13 Detection of Particles

Individual particles such as electrons, neutrons, and

protons cannot be seen directly, so their existence must
be inferred through measurements. Many different
devices, of varying levels of sophistication, have been
developed to do this.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-13 Detection of Particles

The Geiger counter is a gas-

filled tube with a wire in the
center. The wire is at high
voltage; the case is grounded.
When a charged particle
passes through, it ionizes the
gas. The ions cascade onto the
wire, producing a pulse.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-13 Detection of Particles

A scintillation counter uses a

scintillator—a material that
emits light when a charged
particle goes through it. The
scintillator is made light-tight,
and the light flashes are viewed
with a photomultiplier tube,
which has a photocathode that
emits an electron when struck
by a photon and then a series of
amplifiers.
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 30-13 Detection of Particles

A cloud chamber contains a supercooled gas; when a

charged particle goes through, droplets form along its
track. Similarly, a bubble chamber contains a
superheated liquid,
and it is bubbles that
form. In either case,
the tracks can be
photographed and
measured.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 30-13 Detection of Particles

A wire drift chamber is somewhat similar to, but vastly more

sophisticated than, a Geiger counter. Many wires are present,
some at high voltage and some grounded; in addition to the
presence of a signal, the time it takes the pulse to arrive at the
wire is measured, allowing very precise measurement of
position.

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Summary of Chapter 30

• Nuclei contain protons and neutrons—nucleons

• Total number of nucleons, A, is atomic mass number
• Number of protons, Z, is atomic number
• Isotope notation:
• Nuclear masses are measured in u; carbon-12 is
defined as having a mass of 12 u
1 u = 1.6605 × 10−27 kg = 931.5 MeV/c2

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.

 Summary of Chapter 30

• Difference between mass of nucleus and mass of its

constituents is binding energy
• Unstable nuclei decay through alpha, beta, or gamma
emission
• An alpha particle is a helium nucleus; a beta particle
is an electron or positron; a gamma ray is a highly
energetic photon
• Nuclei are held together by the strong nuclear force;
the weak nuclear force is responsible for beta decay
© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.
 Summary of Chapter 30

• Electric charge, linear and angular momentum,

mass-energy, and nucleon number are all conserved
• Radioactive decay is a statistical process
• The number of decays per unit time is proportional
to the number of nuclei present:

• The half-life is the time it takes for half the nuclei

to decay

© 2014 Pearson Education, Inc.