-
Home
- College physics for ap® courses
- Radioactivity and nuclear physics
- Nuclear decay and conservation
Section summary
- When a parent nucleus decays, it produces a daughter nucleus following rules and conservation laws. There are three major types of nuclear decay, called alpha
beta
and gamma
. The
decay equation is
- Nuclear decay releases an amount of energy
related to the mass destroyed
by
- There are three forms of beta decay. The
decay equation is
- The
decay equation is
- The electron capture equation is
-
is an electron,
is an antielectron or positron,
represents an electron’s neutrino, and
is an electron’s antineutrino. In addition to all previously known conservation laws, two new ones arise— conservation of electron family number and conservation of the total number of nucleons. The
decay equation is
is a high-energy photon originating in a nucleus.
Conceptual questions
Star Trek fans have often heard the term “antimatter drive.” Describe how you could use a magnetic field to trap antimatter, such as produced by nuclear decay, and later combine it with matter to produce energy. Be specific about the type of antimatter, the need for vacuum storage, and the fraction of matter converted into energy.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
What conservation law requires an electron’s neutrino to be produced in electron capture? Note that the electron no longer exists after it is captured by the nucleus.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
Neutrinos are experimentally determined to have an extremely small mass. Huge numbers of neutrinos are created in a supernova at the same time as massive amounts of light are first produced. When the 1987A supernova occurred in the Large Magellanic Cloud, visible primarily in the Southern Hemisphere and some 100,000 light-years away from Earth, neutrinos from the explosion were observed at about the same time as the light from the blast. How could the relative arrival times of neutrinos and light be used to place limits on the mass of neutrinos?
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
Problems&Exercises
In the following eight problems, write the complete decay equation for the given nuclide in the complete
notation. Refer to the periodic table for values of
.
decay of
(tritium), a manufactured isotope of hydrogen used in some digital watch displays, and manufactured primarily for use in hydrogen bombs.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
decay of
, a naturally occurring rare isotope of potassium responsible for some of our exposure to background radiation.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
decay of
.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
Electron capture by
.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
decay of
, the isotope of polonium in the decay series of
that was discovered by the Curies. A favorite isotope in physics labs, since it has a short half-life and decays to a stable nuclide.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
decay of
, another isotope in the decay series of
, first recognized as a new element by the Curies. Poses special problems because its daughter is a radioactive noble gas.
Got questions? Get instant answers now!
Questions & Answers
how to study physic and understand
what is conservative force with examples
Moses
the transfer of energy by a force that causes an object to be displaced; the product of the component of the force in the direction of the displacement and the magnitude of the displacement
AI-Robot
why is it from light to gravity
difference between model and theory
Esther
Is the ship moving at a constant velocity?
The full note of modern physics
introduction to applications of nuclear physics
the explanation is not in full details
I need more explanation or all about kinematics
Moses
I need more explanation or all about nuclear physics
aluet
Show that the equal masses particles emarge from collision at right angle by making explicit used of fact that momentum is a vector quantity
A wave is described by the function D(x,t)=(1.6cm) sin[(1.2cm^-1(x+6.8cm/st] what are:a.Amplitude b. wavelength c. wave number d. frequency e. period f. velocity of speed.
what is frontier of physics
A body is projected upward at an angle 45° 18minutes with the horizontal with an initial speed of 40km per second. In hoe many seconds will the body reach the ground then how far from the point of projection will it strike. At what angle will the horizontal will strike
Suppose hydrogen and oxygen are diffusing through air. A small amount of each is released simultaneously. How much time passes before the hydrogen is 1.00 s ahead of the oxygen? Such differences in arrival times are used as an analytical tool in gas chromatography.
what's the definition of physics
the science concerned with describing the interactions of energy, matter, space, and time; it is especially interested in what fundamental mechanisms underlie every phenomenon
AI-Robot
nuclei having the same Z and different N s
AI-Robot
Got questions? Join the online conversation and get instant answers!
Source:
OpenStax, College physics for ap® courses. OpenStax CNX. Nov 04, 2016 Download for free at https://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11844/1.14
Google Play and the Google Play logo are trademarks of Google Inc.