Chapter 1

Introduction: Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics

Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
V. I. Ferronsky, Nuclear Geophysics, Springer Geophysics,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-12451-3_1
Abstract A short overview of the discovery of natural, artificial and cosmogenic
radioactivity and nuclear particles (proton, neutron and electron) is presented. The
discovery of stable isotopes, their abundance in the Earths crust, parameters of subatomic
particles and the binding energy of nuclei are discussed. Physics of nuclear
reactions, sources of radioactivity, the law of radioactive decay and attenuation of
radiation by matter are considered. The principal ideas on measurement techniques
and health hazards are stated. Non-solved problems of the nuclear structure and the
nature of strong nuclear interactions are discussed.
1.1 Natural Stable and Radioactive Isotopes
It was assumed during ancient times and up to the end of the nineteenth century
that the smallest particle of an element is an atom, which was the main subject of
study in atomic physics. But as time passed, a magic 18951905 decade appeared
in physics.
In 1895 German physicist W. Roentgen discovered X-rays produced by the
Crookes cathode tube. In 1896 French physicist A. Becquerel discovered the natural
radioactivity of uranium decayed products. In 1897 English physicist J. Thompson
in
the Cavendish laboratory identified the electron, the fundamental particle
of matter.
In 1898 Pierre and Maria Curie discovered radioactivity of polonium
and radium.
Later on, in addition to the elements of the thorium, uranium and actinium series,
natural radioactivity was discovered for kalium-40, rubidium-87, samarium-
82 and
others, which did not belong to the trans-uranium series.
In 1934 F. and I. Joliot-Curie first obtained artificial radioactive elements.
In 1911, in experiments on scattering of -particles by a matter, E. Rutherford
discovered
the atomic nucleus and in 1918 he identified the proton. He observed
scattering of -particles by two large angles and assumed that the charge of an atom
is located in its centre. The fact of existence of the atomic nucleus was not immediately
accepted. Only after N. Bohr introduced his quantum theory of the atom and
G. Moseley
experimentally showed the shift of the dark-line roentgen spectrum of
different atoms was the atomic nucleus considered in physics. Later on in 1934 the
neutron was identified by G. Chadwick. However, even today, an acceptable theory
of the atomic nucleus structure does not exist.
2 1 Introduction: Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics
In 1913, English radio-chemist F. Soddy proposed the term isotopes for
identifying
atoms of the same element but having different masses. It was done
in order to determine places of the decay products of the radioactive elements in
Mendeleevs
table of chemical elements. The famous English physicians J. Thomson
and F. Aston
played an important role in the discovery and study of stable isotopes.
In 1911, Thompson developed the method of parabolas for determination of the ratio
of the particle charge to its mass by recording mass spectra. Based on this, using
the apparatus designed in the Cavendish Laboratory, Thomson discovered
the neon
isotopes of mass number 22, which was reported in January 1913. In 1919, Aston
proved the existence of the neon isotopes and soon found the isotopes of chlorine
and mercury. Several years later, more than 200 isotopes of various elements
were
discovered, with the exception of those of hydrogen and oxygen that were then
considered as simple elements.
In 1929, W. Giauque and H. Johnston, applying the new techniques of research
by absorption air spectra, discovered the isotopes of oxygen of mass numbers 17
and 18. In 1931, Johnston, on the basis of the free electrons and protons rule developed
from analysis of established isotopes, concluded that hydrogen isotopes with
masses 2 and 3 should exist. Soon after this in 1932, Urey, Brickwedde and Murthy,
using the mechanism of isotope fractionation, detected the Balmers lines of deuterium
in the enriched spectrum of gaseous hydrogen using the spectral method. A
detailed history of isotope discovery and isotope studies has been reported by Aston
in his monograph (Aston 1942).
Atoms are the smallest amount of matter that retain the properties of an element.
Atoms are composed of smaller particles that are protons, neutrons and electrons.
At present, there are 105 different elements on the Earth, 90 of them exist in nature
and 15 are man-made. The total number of protons of an atom is equal to the number
of electrons and is given the symbol Z. The number of non-charged neutrons in
a nucleus is given the symbol N. The mass number of the nucleus is the total number
of protons and neutrons, which is given the symbol A = Z + N. Each of the chemical
elements has a unique atomic number because the atoms of different elements
contain a different number of protons and a different combination of protons and
neutrons. Not all combinations of numbers of protons and neutrons are possible. Up
to now, about 2500 specific nuclides with unique combinations of neutrons and protons
have been identified in the solar-system matter. Figure 1.1 shows the general
picture of the world of nuclei.
The long-lived nuclei present on the Earth are shown by black squares Unbounded
combinations of N and Z lie outside the lines marked last proton/neutron unbound.
The majority of combinations of the protons and neutrons appear to form
unstable
nuclei, which are therefore short-lived or not formed at all. It is assumed
in astrophysics that the pre-solar cloud, from which ~ 4.5 billion years ago the
Sun, the planets, satellites and meteorites were formed, initially consisted of 1H
(~ 75 %) and 4He (~ 25 %). These two elements were formed in the primordial Universe
during
the big bang at the cosmologic temperature kT = 60 keV. All other
elements, which are ~ 2 %, were formed in the stars by nucleosynthesis. Namely,
1.1 Natural Stable and Radioactive Isotopes 3
elements with A 60 were formed by 4He burning at exothermic reactions. As a
result, peaks in solar-system abundances are observed for the elements 4He, 12C,
16O, 20Ne, 28Si, 32S, 36Ar, 40Ca and 56Fe. And creation of elements with A 60 is
assumed to have occurred at the star nucleosynthesis by slow and fast neutron
capture. The number of neutrons in a nucleus with Z protons can be in some limit
different because the nucleus stability is determined by the proton-neutron ratio.
The elements with odd Z do not have more than two stable isotopes. The elements
with even Z do have more than two stable isotopes. Tin has 10 (maximum) stable
isotopes, xenon has 9 and cadmium and tellurium have 8 stable isotopes. The content
of the isotopes in the Earths crust is practically limited by 10 elements from
8 to 26 Z (Table 1.1).
The other elements of the periodic system are represented by a negligible value
of the total mass.
The size and mass of atoms are very small and use of normal measuring units for
them is inconvenient. Dalton in 1803 introduced the mass of hydrogen as the atomic
mass unit ( amu). In 1906 it was decided to use the oxygen scale of amu. But after
the three oxygen isotopes (16O, 17O and 18O) were discovered, the carbon scale (1/12
of 12C) was accepted as amu, which is equal to 1.66 1024 g. Thus, properties of the
three subatomic particles are as follows (Table 1.2).
The unit for energy is the electron-volt (eV), which is the amount of energy
acquired by a single electron when it overcomes a potential difference of 1 V:
1 eV = 1.602 1019 J.
Fig. 1.1 A map of nuclei (Basdevant et al. 2005)
4 1 Introduction: Fundamentals of Nuclear Physics
The atomic radii are approximately the same for all atoms and equal to
ra = ~ 2 1010 m. The nucleus does not have a sharp outer boundary. The relationship
between the radius of a nucleus and the atomic mass number A is found in the form:
(1.1)