Physic Assignment

Introduction
Nuclear structure and radioactive decay process
Name Lai Zi Qing SCM029777
Lau Wing Yir SCM 028558
Lim Joe Jean SCM029428
Wong Mun Ghee SCM029626
Kam Kah Kee SCM02

960824106464
961109085662
IC Number 961003145848
950308145548
960708

Course Foundation Studies

Subject Title Physic 3

Assignment Tittle Nuclear structure and radioactive decay

Name of Lecturer Miss Cheong Kuen Hou

The atomic nucleus is a strongly-interacting, many-body quantum mechanical system that
exhibits a fascinating variety of shapes and excitation modes from spherical to super deformed.
And also from excitations of single protons and neutrons to collective vibrations and rotations of
the nucleus as a whole. The study of nuclear structure attempts to elucidate the unifying
mechanisms by which these rich patterns of behaviour emerge from the common underlying
strong nuclear interaction between the nucleons (protons and neutrons) that form the nucleus. In
general, the atomic nucleus is the central part of the atom. There is a lot to be told by the structure
of the atomic nucleus.

The atomic nucleus is the central area of the atom. It is composed of two kinds of subatomic
particles which are protons and neutrons. Atoms are the building blocks of all matter. Everything
we can see, feel and touch is all made of atoms. There are even things we cannot see, feel or
touch that is also made of atoms. Basically, everything is made up of atoms.
Diagram showing the atomic structure with the protons and neutrons held together to form the
dense area of the nucleus.

In 1909, Ernest Rutherford led both Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden through what is known as
the Gold Foil Experiments. During the experiments they would shoot particles through extremely
thin sheets of gold foil. In 1911, Rutherford came to the conclusion that the atom had a dense
nucleus. This theory would eliminate the idea that the atom was structured more like plum
pudding. The plum pudding model was the leading model of atomic structure until Rutherford's
findings.

The gold foil experiments showed that there

were dense areas inside the atoms. If the plum
pudding theory was correct than the particles
that were being shot through the gold should
go straight through. However, most of the
particles shot straight through, but some of the
particles were deflected due to the dense
nucleus of the gold atoms.

After that, the atomic nucleus is in the centre of the atom. The number of protons and neutrons in
the atom define what type of atom or element it is. An element is a bunch of atoms that all have
the same type of atomic structure. For instance, hydrogen is an element. Every hydrogen atom is
made up of 1 proton, 0 neutrons and 1 electron.
The composition of the atomic nucleus gives us lots of information about the element it
represents. The number of protons inside the nucleus gives us the atomic number. The protons
have a positive charge. In order for the atom to have a neutral charge, the electrons need to
balance it out. Therefore, in a neutral atom there are just as many protons as electrons. So, if we
know the atomic number and the charge of the atom then the number of electrons is easy to find.
For example, hydrogen has 1 proton, so in order for the hydrogen atom to be neutral it must have
one negative charge. Therefore, hydrogen has 1 electron. Although the neutrons do not give the
atom any charge, they still hold their own weight in the importance of the atomic structure. The
neutron is the largest of the subatomic particles. When put together with the protons we get
the atomic mass. The electrons are so small that their mass only counts for 0.1%. The electrons
are not inside of the nucleus.

Radioactive decay process

Radioactive decay occurs in unstable atomic nuclei which is the ones that don’t have enough
binding energy to hold the nucleus together due to an excess of either protons or neutrons. In
radioactive processes, particles or electromagnetic radiation are emitted from the nucleus. The
most common forms of radiation emitted have been traditionally classified as alpha, beta and
gamma radiation. Nuclear radiation occurs in other forms, including the emission of protons or
neutrons or spontaneous fission of a massive nucleus.
The radioactive decay will change one nucleus to another if the product nucleus has a greater
nuclear binding energy than the initial decaying nucleus. The difference in binding energy
(comparing the before and after states) determines which decays are energetically possible and
which are not. The excess binding energy appears as kinetic energy or rest mass energy of the
decay products.

i. Alpha decay

An alpha particle is identical to a helium nucleus, being made up of two protons and two neutrons
bound together. It initially escapes from the nucleus of its parent atom, invariably one of the
heaviest elements, by quantum mechanical processes and is repelled further from it by
electromagnetism, as both the alpha particle and the nucleus are positively charged. The process
changes the original atom from which the alpha particle is emitted into a different element. Its
mass number decreases by four and its atomic number by two. For example, uranium-238 will
decay to thorium-234. Sometimes one of these daughter nuclides will also be radioactive, usually
decaying further by one of the other processes described below.

Example of alpha decay

ii. Beta decay

Beta particles are electrons or positrons (electrons with positive electric charge). Beta decay
occurs when, in a nucleus with too many protons or too many neutrons, one of the protons or
neutrons is transformed into the other.

Beta decay itself comes in two kinds which are β+ and β-. β- emission occurs by the
transformation of one of the nucleus’s neutrons into a proton, an electron and an antineutrino. By
products of fission from nuclear reactors often undergo β- decay as they are likely to have an
excess of neutrons. β+ decays is a similar process, but involves a proton changing into a neutron,
a positron and a neutrino.

Example of Beta decays

Example of beta decay

iii. Gamma decay

Gamma rays are high-energy photons with a very short wavelength (0.0005 to 0.1 nm). After a
nucleus undergoes alpha or beta decay, it is often left in an excited state with excess energy. Just
as an electron can move to a lower energy state by emitting a photon somewhere in the ultraviolet
to infrared range, an atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting a gamma ray. Gamma radiation is
the most penetrating of the three, and will travel through several centimetres of lead. Beta
particles will be absorbed by a few millimetres of aluminium, while alpha particles will be
stopped in their tracks be a few centimetres of air, or a sheet of paper – although this type of
radiation does the most damage to materials it hits.

Example of gamma decay

Half-lives and probability

Radioactive decay is determined by quantum mechanics which is inherently probabilistic. So it’s

impossible to work out when any particular atom will decay but we can make predictions based
on the statistical behaviour of large numbers of atoms. The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the
time after which, on average, half of the original material will have decayed. After two half-
lives, half of that will have decayed again and a quarter of the original material will remain, and
so on.
Uranium and plutonium are only weakly radioactive but they have very long half-lives. In the
case of uranium-238, around 4 billion years, roughly the same as the current age of the Earth, or
the estimated remaining lifetime of the Sun. So, half of the uranium-238 around now will still be
here when the Sun dies.

Iodine-131 has a half-life of eight days. So, once fission has stopped, less than 1% of iodine-131
produced in a nuclear reactor will remain after about eight weeks. Other radioisotopes of iodine
are even shorter-lived.

Caesium-137, however, sticks around for longer. It has a half-life of around 30 years and because
of this and because it decays via the more hazardous beta process, it is thought to be the greatest
health risk if leaked into the environment.

Although some radioactive materials are produced artificially, many occur naturally and result in
there being a certain amount of radiation in our environment all the time.

Theory of nuclear structure

Nuclear structure studies the properties of nuclei in isolation (for interactions between nuclei and
radiation, see nuclear reactions), such as nuclear mass, characteristic energy levels, and
radioactive decay modes.

The Pauli exclusion principle is a principle that can well explained the basic od the shell model
for nuclear energy states . The evidence for shell structure in the nucleus was surprising at the
outset, because a strongly interacting particles should be bumping into each other all the time in
resulting loss of energy for the particles. The Pauli principle effectively avoid the loss of energy
because only one nuclear particle can occupy a given energy. In this matter, all the low energy
states will fill up. This means that the particles cannot take part in interactions which would lower
their energy. Scattering from an external particle which raises the energy of a nucleon can happen,
but scattering which lowers an energy level is blocked by the exclusion principle.The Pauli
Exclusion Principle states that, in an atom or molecule, no two electrons can have the same four
electronic quantum numbers. We are aware that in one orbital a maximum of two electrons can be
found and the two electrons must have opposing spins. That means one would spin up ( +1/2) and
the other would spin down (-1/2).

The Pauli principle is also invoked in the liquid drop model, and there is a term in the
Weizsaecker formula for binding energy which is attributed to the exclusion principle. The filling
of all the low energy states is visualized in the liquid drop model. It favors the condition A=2Z
which means equal numbers of protons and nuetrons. Since neutron and proton energy levels for
given quantum states are comparable, then an overall lower energy can be obtained by filling
them both to the same level rather than having one or more nucleons in higher quantum levels.
The Pauli principle also favors even numbers of neutrons and protons: pairs of fermions will be
expected to have anti-parallel spin and therefore not contribute to the overall spin. This gives
another term in the Weizsaecker formula.

Diagram below shown a nuclear structure concepts

Theory of radioactive decay
Radioactive decay is the disintegration of an unstable atom with an accompanying emission of
radiation. Radioactive decay is the process by which an atomic nucleus of an unstable atom loses
energy by emitting ionizing particles. The emission is spontaneous, in that the atom decays
without any interaction with another particle from outside the atom. Usually, radioactive decay
happens due to a process confined to the nucleus of the unstable atom, but, on occasion, an inner
electron of the radioactive atom is also necessary to the process. The only way that this can
happen is by changing the number of proton in the nucleus.

Half life is used to calculate the rate of decay which a radioactive element would undergo by
continuous emission of energy. The definition of half life is the time it takes for the number of
nuclei of the isotope in a sample to halve.
Diagram below shown the decay curve for a radioactive substances :
 The count rate drops from 100 to 50 counts a minute in one day, so the half-life is one day. In the
next day, it drops from 50 to 25 - it halves. In the one day after that, it drops from 20 to 10 - it
halves again - and so on.

Theory of radioactive decay

A simple example of exponential decay in physics is radioactive decay. Exactly when a particular
radioactive nucleus will decay cannot be predicted, but for a given material we can say that an
individual nucleus has a probability λ (called the decay constant) of decaying in unit time. Thus if
we have N radioactive nuclei at time t then we expect the change in the number of nuclei, dN, in a
short time dt to be given by

where the negative sign indicates that the number of radioactive nuclei is decreasing. We can
rewrite the above as a differential equation:
 .

Hence if there are radioactive nuclei present at the start of a period of observation (time t = 0)
and N radioactive nuclei present at time t:

Remembering that the integral of is the natural logarithm of x yields:

Now from the laws of logarithms ln(A/B) = ln(A) - ln(B), so:

Thus:

(1)

Both N and are numbers of atoms and so are dimensionless, whilst the dimension of t is
seconds, hence λ must have a dimension of s-1.

Case Study
Case Study 1:
The Radioactive Decay of Cobalt-60

The nuclide Cobalt-60 is unstable and decays by the process of ß - emission (emission of a
negatively charged electron from the nucleus) to a stable isotope of the element nickel i.e. 60Ni.
This decay process can be written as:

 + -1ß- (1)
The half-life of 60Co is 5.27 years. The differential equations governing the decay process (1) are
written as:

dNCo/dt = -kNCo, dNNi/dt = +kNCo

where NCo denotes the concentration or total number (depending on the context) of Co atoms. The
constant of proportionality k = ln2/ = 0.69315/. The solution to the above equations is
given by:

NCo(t) = NCo(0) exp(-kt), NNi(t) = NNi(0)(1-exp(-kt)) (2)

Number of atoms at Time, t

For the above example, consider a starting mass M = 1g of the nuclide 60Co. The number N of
cobalt atoms in 1 g is given by

N = M(g)/[AWR×Mn(g)] = 1.0048x1022 (3)

The decay constant k is given by

k = ln2/ = ln (2)/ (5.2711y×3.1536x107s/y) = 4.1698x10-9 s-1

The number of atoms normalized to the starting number, the actual number, and the masses at the
times 1s, 1d, 1w, 1m, 1y, 10y, 100y are obtained using relations (2) and (3) and given in table 1.
*Number of (Co) atoms N, masses M, activities A, gamma emission rates G, and dose rate at 1m
dH/dt|1m resulting form the decay of 1 g of 60Co at various times.

THE ACTIVITY

The activities are given by kN which at the times 1s, 1d, 1w, 1m, 1y, 10y, 100y are given in the
fifth column of table 1.

THE GAMMA EMISSION RATE

When 1g 60Co decays, the emission of the ß- particle is accompanied by gamma rays. There are
six gamma lines and emission probabilities associated with each disintegration as shown in table
2. An emission probability P = 1 for a given energy line implies that one photon of this energy is
emitted per disintegration. The total gamma emission per disintegration is therefore

G(keV/s) = A(Bq)  (i Ei(keV).Pi) =A(Bq)  [2.50x103(keV)]

where the value for i(Ei×Pi) from table 2 has been substituted. The total gamma emission rates
from 60Co at various times are shown in the 6 th column of table 1.

THE DOSE EQUIVALENT RATE

The dose equivalent rate from the 1g 60Co source at a distance of 1m is shown in the last column
of table 1.

Table 2. The energies and intensities of the six gamma lines

associated with the decay of 60Co.
Case Study 2:
The Radioactive Decay of the Uranium-232
The decay of the nuclide 232U is considerably more complex than that of Co60 in that the U-232
gives rise to a series of daughter products before decaying to stable Pb208.

THE DECAY PROCESS

The decay process of the nuclide U232 is shown in below. It can be seen that Bi212 has two
distinct decay modes and results in two separate decay chains.
Number of nuclei at time, t.

In the present example, an initial mass of 1g U232 is chosen. The program calculates the number
of atoms of U232 at time t = 0. The conversion from the mass to number is through the atomic
weight ratio described in appendix 1. The number of atoms initally is given by

* Number of atoms N, masses M, activities A, gamma emission rates G, and dose

equivalent rate at 1 m dH/dt|1m, resulting from the decay of 1g U232 at t = 10 y.

N(t=0) = M(t=0)/[AWR×Mn] = 2.595331x1021 atoms

The calculations are performed at times t = 10 y, 100 y, 1000 y. From the number of atoms at time
t, masses, activities, gamma emission rates and dose equivalent rates are obtained as described
previously. The results are shown in tables 4.3-4.5. The gamma emission rate for each nuclide n is
Gn(keV/s) = An(Bq) × (Sj Ej(keV)×Pj)n
where (Sj Ej(keV)×Pj)n is the gamma emission per disintegration for nuclide n and An is the
activity.

The gamma emission rates are shown in table 4.3.

Table 4.4
. *Number of atoms N, masses M, activities A, gamma emission rates G, and dose equivalent rate
at 1 m dH/dt|1m, resulting from the decay of 1g U232 at t = 100 y.

Table 4.5

*Number of atoms N, masses M, activities A, gamma emission rates G, and dose equivalent rate
at 1 m dH/dt|1m, resulting from the decay of 1g U232 at t = 1000 y.
Case Study 3
Case study for 112Cadmium (Cd)
The large abundance of stable isotopes combined with the interesting features of the nearby Z=50
proton shell closure with the occurrence of neutrons in the middle of the N=50-82 shell. Hence,
The Z=50 mass region is very favorable for nuclear structure studies. This theoretical interest
coupled with the possibility of detailed experimental studies makes the cadmium (Z=48), tin
(Z=50) and tellurium (Z=52) isotopes ideal for testing the influence of symmetries in their
structure.

Isotopes
Isotope Half Life
Cd-106 Stable
Cd-108 Stable
Cd-109 462.0 days
Cd-110 Stable
Cd-111 Stable
Cd-111m 48.5 minutes
Cd-112 Stable
Cd-113 9.0E15 years
Cd-113m 14.1 years
Cd-114 Stable
Cd-115 2.2 days
Cd-115m 44.6 days
Cd-116 Stable
Cd-117 2.5 hours
Cd-118 3.4 hours
Three isotopes - 110Cd, 111Cd, and 112Cd - are absolutely stable

The neutron-deficient nuclei 100,101Cd were identified for the first time in – beam following the
reactions 58Ni+ 46,48Ti and 58Ni+ 50Cr at 230 MeV and 245 MeV bombarding energy of the 58Ni
beams.
Isomers were found with spin and half-life {ie1-01} =8+, T1/2=52(5) ns in100Cd, {ie1-02} =
(19/2+), T1/2=4.6(4) ns in101Cd and {ie1-03} =8+, T1/2=56(4) ns in102Cd.

Conclusion
Nuclear energy is a clean, safe, reliable and competitive energy source. It is the only
source of energy that can replace a significant part of the fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas) which
massively pollute the atmosphere and contribute to the greenhouse effect .If we want to be serious
about climate change and the end of oil, we must promote the more efficient use of energy, we
must use renewable energies – wind and solar –wherever possible, and adopt a more sustainable
life style. But this will not be nearly enough to slow the accumulation of atmospheric CO2, and
satisfy the needs of our industrial civilization and the aspirations of the developing nations.
Nuclear power should be deployed rapidly to replace coal, oil and gas in the industrial countries,
and eventually in developing countries
An intelligent combination of energy conservation, and renewable energies for local
low-intensity applications, and nuclear energy for base-load electricity production, is
the only viable way for the future .Tomorrow’s nuclear electric power plants will also provide
power for electric vehicles for cleaner transportation. With the new high temperature reactors we
will be able to recover fresh water from the sea and support hydrogen production. There is ample
uranium in the world to fuel nuclear power plants today and in the future .Eight pellets of
uranium (smaller than an average adult thumb), contains enough energy to power an average
home for about one year .There were 438 operable nuclear power reactors in 30 countries and 54
nuclear reactors under construction as of February 1, 2010.Nuclear power produced 12.9 per cent
of global electricity in 2010.
The Canada Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactor is also used in Argentina, Romania,
Pakistan, India, China, and the Republic of Korea. So we hope that in future the nuclear energy
can be the main supplier of electricity in our world. As solar and wind energy are dependent upon
weather conditions, nuclear power plant has no such constraints and can run without disruption in
any climatic condition. Nuclear power produces very inexpensive electricity. The cost of the
uranium, which is utilized as a fuel in this process, is low. Also, even though the expense of
setting up nuclear power plants is moderately high, the expense of running them is quite low low.
The normal life of nuclear reactor is anywhere from 40-60 years, depending on how often it is
used and how it is being used. These variables, when consolidated, make the expense of
delivering power low. Even if the cost of uranium goes up, the impact on the cost of power will
be that much lower.
And so we know that nuclear energy is more Proficient Than Fossil Fuels . The other
primary point of interest of utilizing nuclear energy is that it is more compelling and more
proficient than other energy sources. A number of nuclear energy innovations have made it a
much more feasible choice than others. They have high energy density as compared to fossil
fuels. The amount of fuel required by nuclear power plant is comparatively less than what is
required by other power plants as energy released by nuclear fission is approximately ten million
times greater than the amount of energy released by fossil fuel atom.
This is a branch of medicine that uses radiation to provide information about the
functioning of a person's specific organs or to treat disease. In most cases, the information is used
by physicians to make a quick, accurate diagnosis of the patient's illness. The thyroid, bones,
heart, liver and many other organs can be easily imaged, and disorders in their function revealed.
In some cases radiation can be used to treat diseased organs, or tumours. Five Nobel Laureates
have been intimately involved with the use of radioactive tracers in medicine.
Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about the functioning
of a person's specific organs, or to treat them. Diagnostic procedures using radioisotopes are now
routine .Radiotherapy can be used to treat some medical conditions, especially cancer, using
radiation to weaken or destroy particular targeted cells .Tens of millions of nuclear medicine
procedures are performed each year, and demand for radioisotopes is increasing rapidly.
Sterilisation of medical equipment is also an important use of radioisotopes.
 But, radiation, even in small doses, can cause cancer in humans and other living things.
Fast moving photons (gamma rays), electrons (beta rays) and helium nuclei (alpha particles) can
crash into other molecules and change their structure. If this happens to a DNA molecule, it can
damage the genetic information, and sometimes turn a cell cancerous. Radiation also causes
burns, much like sunburn, in large doses over short amounts of time.
Radioactive iodine is also readily absorbed by the body and becomes incorporated in
bones, and is therefore difficult to eliminate from the body. The radiation it emits can cause bone
cancer over long periods of time. The radium on watch dials was incorporated in paint. Workers
used to paint the watch dials by hand, and some would even lick their paint brushes to make a
sharper tip. They ingested radon paint, and some became ill with cancer.
However, Science and industry use radioisotopes in a variety of ways to improve
productivity and, in some cases, to gain information that cannot be obtained in any other way.
Sealed radioactive sources are used in industrial radiography, gauging applications and mineral
analysis .Short-lived radioactive material is used in flow tracing and mixing measurements
.Various radioactive decay series are used to measure the ages of materials incorporating them.
Preserving food, when food is exposed to ionizing radiation (beta or gamma rays), these
can retard or eliminate growth. Low doses of radiation inhibits growth, and potatos are a good
example of produce which has been irradiated. Higher doses of radiation can sterilize food
products.
And last but not least, Weapons of Mass Destruction. Uranium splits when a neutron
strikes the nucleus of the atom at just the right velocity. The atom splits and produces another pair
of neutrons. These can split another pair of atoms. under certain circumstances, this reaction is
exponential and eventually all the nuclear material will undergo fission spontaneously. This
releases unimaginable amounts of energy, mostly in the form of heat. nuclear reactors prevent this
from happening by placing special neutron absorbing material around the nuclear fuel. This
precisely controls the rate of decay. In a nuclear weapon, two chunks of plutonium are suddenly
compressed by a precisely arranged set of explosive charges. This forms a "critical mass".
Plutonium is so unstable that it will undergo spontaneous fission if enough of the metal is brought
together. This generates a dense wave of neutrons which then penetrates the uranium case of the
nuclear bomb. This then results in a second wave of spontaneous fission.
We believe that the opposition of some environmental organizations to civilian
applications of nuclear energy and radioactive energy will soon be revealed to have been among
the greatest mistakes of our times.