CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

9.1

INTRODUCTION

The structure of atoms shall have the same number of positive and negative charges,
because atoms were electrically neutral. In 1911, Ernest Rutherford and his students,
Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden performed an experiment on alpha particle
scattering.
From the result of the experiment, Rutherford concluded that the positive charge in
an atom was concentrated in a region that was small relative to the size of atom,
which then Rutherford viewed a model of atom.
Rutherfords model of the atom suggested that the electrons revolve in orbits about
the nucleus. In this chapter, we will discuss the properties and structure of the nucleus.

9.2

PROPERTIES OF NUCLEUS

9.1.1

Proton and Neutron

The atomic nucleus was made of protons and neutrons. All of the electrons in an atom
were outside the nucleus.
The proton carries a positive charge (+e) and is represented by the symbol p.
In contrast, electrons carries a negative charge (-e), where e = 1.602 x 10 -19C. Electron
is presented by the symbol e.
Any one of those particles in a nucleus is known as a nucleon.

9.1.2 Nuclides and Isotopes

The nuclei of an element are represented as AZ X, where X represents the chemical

symbol for the element.
Z is the atomic number defined as the number of protons in a nucleus. The number of
protons decides which chemical element the atom is.
A neutral atom has equal number of protons in the nucleus and electrons in orbit.
N is the neutron number that defined as the number of neutrons in a nucleus.
A is a mass number that defined as the number of nucleons, that is the number of
proton (Z) and neutron (N) in nucleus.

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9.1.3

In other words, the nucleon number is the sum of the number of protons and the
number of neutrons, A= Z + N
Different atoms of the same element can have different values of A due to have more
or fewer neutrons. They are called isotopes. Isotopes are atoms with the same number
of protons but different number of neutrons. The chemical properties of these atoms
are the same.

Unified Atomic Mass Unit

The unified atomic mass unit, u is

1
2

the mass of an atom of carbon- 12. This means that

the mass of a carbon-12 atom is 12 atomic mass unit or 12 u. of

1u=

1
2

of the mass of atom 126C

In one mole of carbon-12, there are 6.022 x 1023 atoms and its mass is 12.000 g.
Hence mass of the one carbon-12 atom =

1u=

1
2

12.000
6.022 x 10 23

( 1.9926 x 10-23 g)

= 0.16605 x 10-23 g = 1.6605 x 10-27 kg

The energy is equivalent to the mass of 1 u is given by
E = mc2
= 1u ( 1.6605 x 10-27 ) ( 3 x108 )2
= 1.4924 x 10-10 J

= 1.9926 x 10-23 g

CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

1.4924 x 1010 J
1.6 x 1019 J /eV

= 931.5 MeV
Therefore 1 u= 931.5 MeV and 1 eV = 1.6 x 10-19 J

9.2

MASS SPECTROMETER

9.2.1

Structure of Mass Spectrometer

A mass spectrometer is used to measure of the mass of ionized atom ( positively charged so
that it would be deflected by both an electric field and magnetic field.

A diagram of a mass spectrometer

There are four stages in the operation of a mass spectrometer.
(i) Ionisation

A sample is injected into the instrument just before the ionisation chamber. The
sample is vaporised at this point. The vaporised sample is then enters the ionisation
chamber. The particles in the sample (atoms or molecules) are therefore bombarded
with a stream of electrons, and some of the collisions are energetic enough to knock
one or more electrons out of the sample particles to make positive ions.

CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

(ii) Acceleration

The positive ions are repelled away from the very positive ionisation chamber and
pass through three slits. All the ions are accelerated into a finely focused beam.

(iii) Deflection

As the rapidly moving ions enters the magnetic field, they are deflected into circular
paths according to their mass to charge (m/e) ratio.

(iv) Detection

By changing the magnetic field strength or the voltage of the electric field, ions with a
particular mass to charge ratio will be focused on the ion detector at the end of the
machine.

Usage of mass spectrometer:

1. To measure the specific charge (q/m) of a charged particles
2. To detect the number of isotopes of an element.

CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

Example: 9.1
In a mass spectrometer, the magnetic and electric field for selecting the velocity of the ion are
0.56 T and 1.20 x 105 Vm-1 respectively. The diameters of the circular paths for oxygen ions
are 14.12 cm, 15.04 cm and 15.90 cm respectively. The charge of each the circular paths for
the oxygen ion is 1.60 x 10-19 C. Calculate
(a) the mass of each type of oxygen atoms.
(b) the relative atomic mass of each ion.
Solution:
(a) In velocity selector, FE= FM
qE = qvB
v = E/B = ( 1.2x105)/ 0.56
= 2.14 x 105 m/s
In evacuated chamber, Fm= Fc
qvB=

m=

mv 2
r
Bqr
v

For d1 = 14.12 cm, m1 = 2.956 x 10-26 kg

For d2 = 15.04 cm, m2 = 3.149 x 10-26 kg
For d3 = 15.90 cm, m3 = 3.329 x 10-26 kg

(b) Mass of one proton= 1.673 x 10-27 kg, therefore, relative atomic mass,
M1 =

2.956 x 1026
1.673 x 1027

M2 =

3.149 x 10
1.673 x 1027

= 17.67

26

= 18.83

M3 =

3.329 x 1026
1.673 x 1027

= 19.90

CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

9.3

MASS DEFECT AND BINDING ENERGY

The loss in mass, or mass defect is due to the conversion of mass to binding energy.

Binding energy is defined as the amount of energy needed to separate the nucleus
into its individual nucleons. It can also consider as the amount of energy released
when the nucleus is formed from its individual nucleons.
The mass of the nucleus is less than the sum of the protons and neutrons of which it
composed. The difference between the sum of the masses of the individual nucleons
and the mass of the nucleus is called the mass defect, m.

where Z= number of protons in nucleus

A-Z = number of neutrons in nucleus
mp = mass of proton
mn = mass of neutron
M= mass of nucleus

The binding energy, E of a nucleus is the energy required to separate completely all
the nucleons in the nucleus. The energy equivalent to the mass defect of a nucleus is
the binding energy of the nucleus.
Binding energy of nucleus, E= mass defect x c2
=m

c2

where m = mass defect

C= speed of light

Example:
1. Find the mass defect of a Copper- 63 nucleus if the actual mass of a Copper-63 nucleus is
62.913678 u.
Solution:
Copper- 63 has 29 protons and 34 neutrons. Therefore, the mass defect of a copper- 63 is
m = Zmp + ( A-Z) mn M
m = 29 (1.007276 u) + 34 ( 1.008665 u)- 62.913678 u
= 0.591936 u

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2. One of the hydrogen isotopes with mass number 2 is called deuterium (21 H). Its nucleus
consists of a proton and a neutron bound together to form a particle named deuteron.
Calculate the binding energy and the binding energy per nucleon for deuteron.
Solution:
The binding energy of the deuteron is
EB = (1.007276 + 1.008665 2.013553) (931.5) MeV
= 2.22 MeV
This much energy would be required to pull the deuteron apart into a proton and a neutron.
An important measure of how tightly a nucleus is bound is the binding energy per nucleon.
EB/ A= 22.2/ 2
= 1.11 MeV per nucleon
2

H has the smallest binding energy per nucleon of all nuclides.

9.4 APPLICATION (THE PRODUCTION OF RADIOISOTOPE)

Radioisotopes are the isotopes of an element that are radioactive.
Such nuclei will emit particles and electromagnetic radiation such as gamma photons.
NATURALLY PRODUCED RADIOISOTOPES:
-

Radioisotopes that are produced naturally usually those that have an excess of
neutrons.

Carbon, carbon-14 are the example of radioisotope which are produces naturally.

For example: Collision of gases in atmosphere with nitrogen atoms.

1

n0 +

14

N7

14

C6

H1

ARTIFICIALLY PRODUCED RADIOISOTOPE

-

- Radioisotope produced have a short lived (half-life), which means it will decay to
unusable number in a small amount of time.

CHAPTER 9 : NUCLEUS

Radioisotopes used for medication are usually the one which is produced artificially.

For example, production of N-13

H 21 + C12
6

1
N 13
7
+ n0

How radioisotopes are produced?

1. Adding neutrons the nuclei.

Neutrons do not have charge, therefore if they are fired at low kinetic energy at a
nucleus they may be captured because they do not experience a repulsion force due to
the positive charge on the nucleus.

The absorption of neutrons is not a simple process. It is found that if the neutrons are
moving too fast they may just be deflected, or pass through, or shatter the nucleus into
smaller bits.
1
o

n + C12
6
----

13
6

2. Adding protons to the nucleus.

If a proton is taken in by the nucleus the atomic number of the nucleus increases and of
course the type of element is now different because of extra proton.
Protons are positively charged as is the nucleus. A coulombic repulsion force will occur
which increases rapidly as the proton moves closer to the nucleus.
3. Collision with other nuclei
Other smaller nuclei are readily available and can be accelerated easily because of their
charge they are often used as collision particles to ultimately produce radioisotopes.
They are fired at nuclei with a known kinetic energy and cause a variety of reactions to occur.
The end result is production of a new element being formed and usually a radioactive isotope
of it.