PRESENTATION

ON
RADOACTIVITY
AND
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
 INTRODUCTION

Radioactivity –
spontaneous disintegration of atomic nuclei
by the emission of subatomic particles
called alpha particles and beta particles, or
of electromagnetic rays called X rays and
gamma rays.
DISCOVERY OF RADIOACTIVITY

The phenomenon was discovered in 1896 by

the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel
when he observed that the element uranium
can blacken a photographic plate, although
separated from it by glass or black paper. He
also observed that the rays that produce the
darkening are capable of discharging an
electroscope, indicating that the rays possess
an electric charge.
HALF-LIFE

The decay of some substances, such as

uranium-238 and thorium-232, appears to
continue indefinitely without detectable
diminution of the decay rate per unit mass of
the isotope (specific-decay rate).
Each individual radioactive substance has a
characteristic decay period or half-life.
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
AND
NUCLEAR ENERGY
Fission and Fusion
Nuclear energy can be released in two different
ways:
fission, the splitting of a large nucleus, and
fusion, the combining of two small nuclei. In
both cases energy—measured in millions of
electron volts (MeV)—is released because the
products are more stable (have a higher binding
energy) than the reactants. Fusion reactions are
difficult to maintain because the nuclei repel
each other, but fusion creates much less
radioactive waste than does fission
Fission and Fusion

Both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion

reactions can be used to generate large
amounts of energy for destructive
purposes. When an atom of 235U is
bombarded by a neutron, it splits into
atoms of cesium and rubidium, releasing a
large amount of energy and three additional
neutrons.
CONTINUED…
CONTINUED…
These neutrons, if not controlled, can then
cause more 235U atoms to split, leading
rapidly to a nuclear explosion (A-bomb).
Fusion reactions release energy when two
light nuclei combine to make a heavier
atom. Microsoft Corporation. All Rights
Reserved.
CHAIN REACTION
DESCRIPTION OF CHAIN REACTION
When a uranium or other suitable nucleus
fissions, it breaks up into a pair of nuclear
fragments and releases energy. At the same
time, the nucleus emits very quickly a number
of fast neutrons, the same type of particle that
initiated the fission of the uranium nucleus.
This makes it possible to achieve a self-
sustaining series of nuclear fissions; the
neutrons that are emitted in fission produce a
chain reaction, with continuous release of
energy. Continued…
The light isotope of uranium, uranium-235, is
easily split by the fission neutrons and, upon
fission, emits an average of about 2.5
neutrons. One neutron per generation of
nuclear fissions is necessary to sustain the
chain reactions. Others may be lost by
escape from the mass of chain-reacting
material, or they may be absorbed in
impurities or in the heavy uranium isotope,
uranium-238, if it is present. Any substance
capable of sustaining a fission chain reaction
is known as a fissile material.
APPLICATON OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
Fission Bomb
The first atomic bomb used in warfare was
dropped by the United States on August 6,
1945. Called Little Boy, it produced an
explosion that devastated the city of Hiroshima
in Japan and killed tens of thousands of
people in less than one minute. In this bomb,
a mass of uranium about the size of a
baseball produced an explosion as powerful
as 15 kilotons of TNT.
Little Boy, which is schematized here, was
a gun-type fission bomb. A small wedge of
uranium was fired at a larger target piece of
uranium and, upon impact, the two pieces
fused together briefly, forming what is
called a supercritical mass (a mass slightly
greater than that necessary to sustain a
chain reaction
 DEVELOPED BY:
VARINDERJIT KAUR
(SCIENCE MISTRESS)

GOVT CO . ED. SR.SEC.

SCHOOL, HIGH BRANCH
RAJPURA