1) Introduction

Phenomenon of radioactivity was first discovered by A.H.Bacquerel in 1896 while

studying fluorescence and phosphorence of compounds irradiated by visible light

these phosphorescent materials glow in dark after being exposed to visible light

while conducting experiment on uranium salts, he found that uranium salts has a
capability to blacken the photographic plate kept in a dark place wrapped through a paper

Subsequent experiments showed that radioactivity is a nuclear phenomenon in which an

unstable nucleus under goes a decay process referred as radioactive decay

There are three types of radioactivity decays that occur in nature .These are decay ,
decay and decay.

We now define radioactive decay as the process by which unstable atomic nucleus looses
energy by emitting ionizing particles or radiations ( , and rays)

Radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus is a spontaneous process and can occur without
any interaction of other particles outside the atom

This process of radioactive decay is random and we can not predict whether a given
radioactive atom will emit radiations at a particular instant of time or not

Phenomenon of radioactivity is observed in heavy elements like uranium and unstable

isotopes like carbon 14

2) Properties of radioactive decay

Radioactive rays ionize the surrounding air and affect photographic plate

Radioactive rays acts differently on different biological cells and tissues

A beam of radioactive rays from a radium sample into three components in presence of
strong magnetic or electric fields

I.The alpha rays(particles)

The alpha particles are nuclei of helium atoms

Alpha particles was first identified by Rutherford and Royds in 1909 by spectroscopic
method where they found traces of helium in an originally pure sample of Radon gas
which is an emitter.

Examples of decay are

(A)

222

Rn864He2+218Po84

(B) 238U924He2+234Th90

rays can be stopped by thin sheet of paper.

rays can cause intense ionization in air.

Any group of particles emitted from same type of nuclei always have definite energy
and definite velocity.

Most particles are emitted with velocities between 1.5x107 and 2.2x107.

The particles cover a definite distance in a material without any loss of intensity and
suddenly in a small distance they are absorbed completely.

The distance rays travel within a given material is called their range in that material.

II.The beta rays(particles)

particles are identical with electrons.

They have mass 1 1836 of mass of proton.

examples of decay are

(A) 234Th90 234Pa91+e(B) 210Bi83 210Po84+e(C) 14C6 14N7+e-

Mass number and charge are conserved and the daughter product moves one place up in
the periodic table, as loss of negative charge by nucleus implies gain of positive charge.

rays cause much less ionization in air , but are 100 times more penetrating then rays.

rays can penetrate a aluminum sheet of few mm thickness.

A particular active element emits particles with energies varying between zero and a
certain maximum.

This maximum energy is called end point energy.

III. The Gamma rays:-

They are part of EM spectrum < X-rays

ray photons are more energetic and more penetrating then X-rays photons

rages between 1.7X10-8 cm and 4.0X10-6 cm

Ionization due to Gamma rays is a photoelectric effect

Owing to their large energies ,the Gamma rays photons can dislodge electrons not only
from outer orbits( valence orbits on conduction band) of atoms but also from the inner
orbits

Besides photoelectric effect ,gamma rays loose energy by

i) Compton effect ,in which the gamma photon collides with an electron and gets
scattered with a shift in wavelength

ii) Pair production ,in which a gamma photon is converted into a pair consisting of an
electron and a positron( particle having mass and charge equal to electron but carrying
positive change)

3) Law of radioactive Decay

Radioactivity is a nuclear phenomenon

When a nucleus disintegrates by emitting a particle ( and ) or by capturing an electron

from the atomic shell( K-shell) ,the process is called radioactive decay. This decay
process is spontaneous.

Let us take a radioactive sample containing N0 at time t=0 i.e, at the beginning. We wish
to calculate the number N of these nuclei left after time t.

The number of nuclei of a given radioactive sample disintegrating per sec is called the
activity of that sample is

dN/dt=rate of decrease of nuclei with time=Activity of sample at time t

--(1)

Experimentally it is found that the activity at any instant of time t is directly proportional
to the number N of parent type nuclei present at that time

Where > 0 is proportionality constant and negative sign indicates that N decreases as t
increases

From equation (2) we get

i.e. , is fractional change in N per sec

=> is not merely a proportionality constant ,but it gives us the probability of decay per
unit interval of time

Hence is called the probability constant or decay constant or disintegration constant

dN is the no of parent nuclei that decay between t and t+dt and we have taken N as
continuous variable

From (2)

N0=No of radioactive nuclei at t=0

From (4) we see that law of radioactive decay is exponential in character

From figure it can be noted that only half the amount of radon present initially after 3.83
days and 1/4 after 7.66 days and so on

Plot shows that in a fixed time interval a fixed fraction of the amount of radioactive
substance at the beginning of interval decays

This faction is independent of the amount of radioactive substance and depends only on
the interval of the time

The decay constant is a characteristics of radioactive substance and it depends in no

way on the amount of the substance present

a) Half Life

Time interval during which half of a given sample of radioactive substance decays is
called its half life. It is denoted by T

b) Mean Life

Individual radio atomic atoms may have life spans between zero and infinity

Average or mean life is defined as

=Total life time of all nuclei in a given sample/Total no of nuclei in that sample
--(6)

From curve one can see that each of dN number of radioactive nuclei has lived a life of t
sec i.e. the total life span of a dN nuclei is (dN.t) sec . Therefore equation (6) can be
written as

4) Unit of activity

The most commonly used unit is the curie

Curie was originally based on the rate of decay of a gram of radium

There are 3.7X1010 disintegrations per sec per gram of radium .This no is taken as a
standard
=> One curie=3.7X1010 disintegrations per sec

One curie of activity is very strong source of radiation

=> 1 milli curie=1mCi=10-3 Ci
1 microcurie=1Ci=10-6 Ci

Another unit of activity is Rutherford

1rd=106 dis/sec

Activity |dN/dt|=N=.693N/T
=> A very short lived substance gives rise to large activity ,even it is present in minute
quantities

The SI unit of radioactivity recently proposed is Becquerel (Bq) which is defined as

activity done to one disintegration per sec hence
1ci=3.7X1010 bq
=37G bq

5) Alpha decay:

Nucleus before the decay is called parent nucleus and after the decay is called daughter
nucleus

In Alpha decay, the parent nucleus AXZ emits an particle (=4He2) leaving behind a
daughter nucleus of four mass unit less and two charge units less i.e. A-4XZ-2

decay shift the element two places to the left in the periodic tables of elements ex

All nuclides of A >= 210 and Z > 83 tends to decay by emission

209

decay in heavy nucleus occur because a too heavy nucleus becomes unstable due to
coulomb repulsion and by emitting an particle the nucleus decrease its A and Z to
moves towards stability

Bi is the heaviest stable nuclide in nature

Now the rest mass energy of parent nucleus AXZ is greater then the sum of rest mass
energies of A-4XZ-2 and 4He2

The difference between the rest mass energies of initial constituents and final products is
called Q-value of the process

For decay process ,Q value is

Q=[mp -(md+m)]c2
where mp -> Mass of parent nucleus ZAX
md -> Mass of parent nucleus Z-2A-4X
m -> Mass of parent nucleus 24He

6) Decay

There are two types of decay , - and +

In decay an nucleus decay spontaneously emitting an electron or positron

Under - decay one of the neutrons in the parent nucleus gets transformed into a proton
and in the process an electron and an antineutrino are emitted
n-> p+e-+-

The daughter nucleus thus formed in - decay would be an element one place to the right
of the parent in the periodic table of elements

Examples of - decay

- is common over entire range of nuclides and amongst the naturally occurring heavy
radioactive nuclides and in fission products

In + decay one the protons of the parent nucleus gets transformed into a neutron emitting
a positron and neutrino
p->n+e++

In + decay the daughter nucleus would be one place to the left of parent nuclei in the
periodic table

Examples of + decay

In both + and - symbol - and represents antineutrino and neutrino

Both antineutrino (-) and neutrino() are charge less and nearly less particles and interact
very weakly with matter which make their detection very difficult

In these decay( + and -) mass number A of nucleus remain same after the decay

7) Decay

After alpha or beta decay processes it is common to find the daughter nucleus to be in an
excited state

Just like atoms ,nucleus also have energy levels

So an nucleus in excited state can make transitions from higher energy levels to lower
one by the emission of electro magnetic radiation

The energy difference in allowed energy levels of a nucleus are of the order of Mev and
the photons emitted by nuclei have energies of the order of Mev and are called rays

As an example, decay of 60Co27 nucleus gets transformed into 60Ni28 nucleus in excited
state which then de -excites to its ground state by successive emission of 1.17 Mev and
1.33 Mev gamma rays as shown in energy level diagram,