Homework 1 - Solutions

April 3, 2006 Drew Fustin (dafustin@uchicago.edu)

Physics 237 - Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics

Problem 1
In a sample of one liter of carbon dioxide at STP an average of 5 disintegrations are observed per minute.
14 6C

14 7N

+ e + e

Calculate the atomic fraction of 14 C present if the mean life of this nucleus is 8267 years. 6

Solution
We know that the number of 14 C atoms in the sample goes as 6
N (t) = N0 et ,
14 6C

where N0 is the number of atoms at time t = 0 and is the inverse of the mean lifetime of 1/ (8267 years). Between a time t and t + t, there are, on average, N decays, where
N = N (t) N (t + t) = N0 et 1 et .

, =

Now, if t 1 , as it is in our case since t = 1 minute, this becomes (after expanding the second exponent to second order)
N = N0 et t,

giving a rate of disintegrations as

dN dt = N0 et .

(1)

Let's say that we are currently at a time t = 0, so

dN dt 5 s1 = N0 = 1 N0 , 8267 yr

giving N0 = 2.17 1010 , which is the number of 14 C atoms present in the sample currently. For any counting 6 interval that is very small compared to the mean lifetime, it can always be approximated that the activity of the sample is
dN dt = N,

where N is the current number of atoms. We could have just originally used that fact to solve this problem, but instead we just derived that relationship here. There is one mole, that is 6.022 1023 molecules, of a gas in 22.4 liters at STP. Therefore, in one liter of carbon dioxide, there are 2.688 1022 molecules. This implies that there are 2.688 1022 atoms of 12 C and 6 5.377 1022 atoms of 16 O in our sample. Therefore, the atomic fraction of 14 C is just the ratio of the amount 8 6 of 14 C to the amount of 12 C, or N 14 C /N 12 C = 8.07 1013 . 6 6 6 6 1

Problem 2
A sample of gold is exposed to a neutron beam of constant intensity such that 1010 neutrons per second are absorbed in the reaction:
197 79 Au

+n

198 79 Au

The nuclide 198 Au undergoes -decay to 198 Hg with a mean life of 3.89 days. How many atoms of 198 Au will 79 80 79 be present after 6 days of irradiation? How many atoms of 198 Hg will be present at that time, assuming that 80 the 198 Hg is unaected by the neutron beam? What is the equilibrium number of 198 Au atoms? 80 79

Solution
is being created at a rate of R = 1010 atoms/s, and these decay with a decay constant of = 1/ (3.89 days), the dierential change in the number of 198 Au atoms in a time dt is given by 79
198 79 Au

Since

dNAu dt Bet

= R NAu .

(2)

We assume a solution of the form NAu (t) = A + Bet and plug this into Eq. 2, nding
= R A + Bet ,

giving A = R/. Also noting that at a time t = 0, NAu should be zero, we nd that B = R/. Therefore,
NAu (t) = R 1 et .

(3)

After 6 days of irradiation (t = 6 days), we nd from Eq. 3 that NAu = 2.64 1015 . Now, since we are losing 1010 atoms/s of 197 Au , after 6 days we will have 5.184 1015 less 197 Au atoms. If 79 79 we have 2.64 1015 atoms of 198 Au after 6 days, then the dierence must have converted to 198 Hg. Therefore, 79 80 the number of 198 Hg atoms after 6 days is NHg = 2.544 1015 . 80 Finally, the equilibrium number of 198 Au atoms is achieved as t in Eq. 3. That is 79
equil NAu

R ,

equil so NAu = 3.36 1015 . This can also be seen by noting that since the amount of 198 Au increases at a rate 79 R and decays at a rate NAu , the the equilibrium is reached when these are equal, i.e. R = NAu .

Problem 3
Natural uranium found in the Earth's crust contains the isotopes 235 U and 238 U in the atomic ratio 7.3 103 92 92 to 1. Assuming that at the time of formation these two isotopes were produced equally, estimate the time since the formation given that the mean lives are 1.03 109 and 6.49 109 years respectively.

Solution
The numbers of 235 U and 238 U are given by 92 92
N235 (t) N238 (t) = N0 e235 t = N0 e238 t ,

where N0 is the same for both since they were produced equally at the time of formation. Here, 235 = 1/ 1.03 109 years and 238 = 1/ 6.49 109 years . The atomic ratio of these two isotopes is 7.3 103 to 1, so
N235 N238 e(238 235 )t = = 7.3 103 7.3 103 ,

giving
t = log 7.3 103 , 238 235

or t = 6.023 109 yr . Radioactive techniques such as this, with suiable corrections, are used to estimate the age of the Earth. Using a similar technique to this, it is believed that the Earth is around 4.5 109 years old.

Problem 4
Given that the carbon dioxide in Problem 1 is from the same sample of carbon which was xed in a biological specimen when the 14 C/12 C ratio was 1012 , calculate the age of the specimen. 6 6

Solution
If the 14 C/12 C ratio was 1012 initially, then 6 6
N0
14 6C

1012 N0

12 6C

Since there are 2.688 1022 atoms of 12 C in the sample currently, and since 12 C is stable, there were 2.688 1022 6 6 atoms of 12 C in the sample initially. Therefore, there were N0 = 2.6881010 atoms of 14 C in the sample initially. 6 6 Now, since there are currently N (t) = 2.17 1010 atoms of 14 C in the sample we can use 6
N (t) = N0 et

to nd
log t =
N (t) N0

or t = 1770 yr . Radiocarbon dating was actually invented by the University of Chicago's own Willard Libby in 1949, earning him the Nobel Prize in 1960. He was a member of the Department of Chemisty here, as well as the Enrico Fermi Institute.

Problem 5
A beam of neutrons of kinetic energy 0.29 eV and intensity 105 s1 traverses at normal incidence a foil of 235 U 92 with thickness 101 kg/m2 . Any neutron-nucleus collision can have one of three possible results: 1. elastic scattering of neutrons: e = 2 1030 m2 , 2. capture of the neutron followed by emission of a -ray by the nucleus: c = 7 1027 m2 , 3. capture of the neutron followed by splitting of the nucleus into two almost equal parts (ssion): f = 2 1026 m2 . Calculate: (a) the attenuation of the neutron beam by the foil; (b) the number of ssion reactions occurring per second in the foil caused by the incident beam; (c) the ux of elastically scattered neutrons at a point 10 m from the foil and out of the incident beam, assuming isotropic distribution of the scattered neutrons.

Solution
First of all, note that the kinetic energy is only useful in this problem in determining the cross sections of the three possible interactions. Since these are given, the energy should not play an explicit role. (a) We rst need to nd the total number of 235 U atoms per unit area in the foil. The atomic mass of 235 U is 92 92 A = 235 u where u is an atomic mass unit and has the conversion of 1 u = 103 kg/NA where NA = 6.022 1023 is Avogadro's number. Since the thickness is given as t = 101 kg/m2 , we know that the total number of 235 U 92 atoms is
N235 = = = t A 1000tNA 235 kg 2.56 1023 atoms . m2

Now, each atom has an aective area equal to the sum of the cross sections
T = e + c + f = 2.7002 1026 m2 .

Therefore, each neutron that travels through the foil has a probability of collision equal to the product of the number of 235 U atoms and the total cross section, that is 92
P = N235 T = 6.92 103 .

Now, if there are 105 neutrons per second (which is the intensity I of the beam) passing through the foil, the number of collisions per second is
NT = PI = 692 collisions . s

Therefore, the attenuation A of the beam is simply the ratio of the number of neutrons left after the foil (that is, those that did not collide) to the number of neutrons before the foil:
A = NT , I

so A = 6.92 103 , which is the same as the probability of collision. (b) To nd the number of ssions per second, we simply need to use the cross section for ssion alone in determining the probability of interaction:
Pf = N235 f = 5.13 103 .

Therefore, the number of ssions per second is

Nf = Pf I,

or Nf = 513 ssions/s . (c) Finally, we need the number of elastic scattering interactions, which we get from the probability of elastic scattering:
Pe = N235 e = 5.13 107 .

Therefore, the number of elastic scattering interactions per second is

Ne = Pe I = 5.13 102 scatters . s

Now, if we're looking for the ux of these neutrons at a distance of R = 10 m, we need the fractional area of one square meter of surface area on the sphere to the entire surface area of the sphere:
A1 m2 Asphere = = 1 m2 4R2 7.96 104 .

Then, the total number of scattered neutrons per second passing through one square meter of surface area at a distance of ten meters is just the product of the number of neutrons scattered per second and the fraction of the surface area covered:
e = Ne , Asphere

or e = 4.08 105 neutrons/m2 /s .

Problem 6
(a) A particle counter registers an average of 0.453 counts per second. What is the probability that it registers 2 in any one second? (b) A larger counter registers 1296 in ten minutes so that the best estimate of its rate is 2.16 per second. Estimate the error (standard deviation) on this measured rate and the probability that the measurement is low by more than the error. Assume that the Poisson distribution P (n, m) for large m is approximated by a Gaussian distribution with mean m and standard deviation m1/2 .

Solution
(a) For a Poisson distribution, the probability of recording n counts (where n is an integer) when the expected number is is
P (n) = n e . n!

Therefore, if = 0.453 counts per second, the probability of observing n = 2 counts per second is P (2) = 0.065 . (b) This time, the sample size is large (there are 1296 counts) so the Poisson distribution can be approximated as a Gaussian distribution. Now, the Gaussian distribution of the number of counts has an average of 1296 and a standard deviation of 1296 = 36. Therefore, the standard deviation in the rate is just the standard deviation in the counts divided by the total time, that is
= = 1296 10 min 0.06 s1 .

Now, for a Gaussian distribution, we know that 68.27% of the area under the curve is contained within one standard deviation of the mean. Therefore, 31.73% of the area is outside of one standard deviation and half of this (15.865%) is the area under just one side of the distribution outside of one standard deviation. Therefore, the probability that the measurement is low by more than one standard deviation is P (< 1) = 0.15865 .