Nuclear Transformations

Radioactive Decay
Half Life
Radioactive Series
 Chapter 12
Nuclear Transformations

Radioactivity occurs because some nuclei are unstable and

spontaneously decay.

Important aspects of radioactivity:

• Elements transform into other, different elements.

• The energy released in radioactive decay comes from

mass which is converted to energy.

• Radioactivity is a quantum phenomenon. Radioactive

decay is a statistical process.
12.1 Radioactive Decay

There are five kinds of radioactive decay. Figure 12.3 shows

them and gives the reasons for their occurrence. Understand
figure 12.3.

Starting on the next slide are the five kinds of radioactive

decay. We will go into more detail for each in later sections in
this chapter.
(1) Gamma decay.

• Occurs when a nucleus has excess energy.

• A gamma ray (packet of energy) is emitted from the

nucleus.

• The parent and daughter nuclides are the same.

• Example:
87 87
38 Sr *  38 Sr +  .

The * in the reaction denotes an excited nuclear state.

(2) Alpha decay.

• Occurs when the nucleus is too large.

• An alpha particle is emitted, reducing the size of the

nucleus.

• The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 2 less and

an atomic mass 4 less than the parent nucleus.

• Example:
238 234
92 U 90 Th + 42 He .
(3) Beta decay.

• Occurs because the nucleus has too many neutrons

relative to protons.

• A neutron changes into a proton and emits an electron.

• The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1 more and

an atomic mass the same as the parent nucleus.

14
• Example: 6 C  147 N + e- .

Later we will find there is something missing from this

reaction.
(4) Electron capture.

• Occurs because a nucleus has too many protons relative

to neutrons.

• A proton captures an electron and changes into a

neutron.

• The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1 less and

an atomic mass the same as the parent nucleus.

64
• Example: 29 Cu + e -  64
28 Ni .

Again, we will find something is missing from this reaction.

(5) Positron emission.

• As with electron capture, this occurs because a nucleus

has too many protons relative to neutrons.

• A proton emits a positron and changes into a neutron.

• The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1 less and

an atomic mass the same as the parent nucleus.

64 64
• Example: 29 Cu  28 Ni + e+ .

Guess what? Something is missing from this reaction!

Radioactive decay involves an unstable nucleus giving off a
particle or ray, and in the process becoming a more stable
nucleus.

There are several ways to detect what the particle/ray is.

Detect the radiation after it passes through a magnetic
field. Positive and negative charged particles will be
deflected in different directions. Neutral particles or rays
go straight through.
See what it penetrates. A piece of paper can stop alpha rays.
Beta particles can be stopped by a sheet of aluminum. Even
lead may not stop gamma rays.
The activity of a radioactive sample is the rate at which atoms
decay.

If N(t) is the number of atoms present at a time t, then the

activity R is
dN
R=- .
dt

dN/dt is negative, so the activity is a positive quantity.

The SI unit of activity is the becquerel: 1 becquerel = 1 Bq = 1

event/second.

Another unit of activity is the curie (Ci) defined by

1 curie = 1 Ci = 3.70x1010 events/s = 37 GBq.
This section also contains interesting paragraphs about the
relation between the geology of the earth and radioactivity, and
about radiation hazards. I won't lecture on them, but they are
testable in final exam, so be sure to read them.

12.2 Half-Life

Experimental measurements show that the activities of

radioactive samples fall off exponentially with time.

*Empirically:
R = - R 0 e -λt .

 is called the “decay constant” of the decaying nuclide. Each

radioactive nuclide has a different decay constant.
The half-life, T½, is the time it takes for the activity to drop by
½. We can find a relationship between  and T½:
R0 -λΤ
= - R 0 e 1/2
2

activity after T½ original activity

1 -λΤ
= e 1/2
2
+λΤ 1/2
e =2

Τ 1/2 = ln  2 

ln  2  0.693
= =
Τ 1/2 Τ 1/2
Here's a plot of the activity of a radionuclide.

The initial activity was

chosen to be 1000 for
this plot.

The half-life is 10 (in

whatever time units
we are using).

All decay curves look like this; only the numbers on the axes
will differ, depending on the radionuclide (which determines the
half-life) and the amount of radioactive material (which
determines the initial activity).
Hyperphysics is a good place to go for supplementary material.
Here’s their plot of radioactive decay (they use A instead of R
for activity).
One more picture, from Physics2000.

We’ll visit their decay

simulator later.

What a crummy graph—

look how bumpy it is!

What’s this? (Answers

later!)
Remember, empirically…

R = - R 0 e -λt .
Let’s fix this!

The empirical activity law can be derived if we assume that  is

the probability per unit time for the decay of a nucleus.

Then dt is the probability that the nucleus will undergo decay
in a time dt.

If a sample contains N undecayed nuclei, then the number dN

that will decay in the time dt is just N times the probability of
decay,
dN = - N  dt .
This equation can be integrated to give

N = - N0 e-λt .

which you should recognize as looking like the activity law with
N's instead of R's.

The activity R of a sample of N radioactive nuclei is just

R =  N.

What’s the difference between

R = - R 0 e -λt and N = - N0 e-λt
Other than the fact that one talks about rates and the other
about numbers?
 R = - R 0 e -λt
is empirical, and you should always be suspicious of empirical
equations, which may or may not have any physical meaning.

N = - N0 e-λt
was derived under the assumption that  is the decay
probability per unit time, and is part of a testable theory. Big
difference!

Important! The equation for activity R in terms the number of

nuclei present
R = N
involves , which is a probability.
Radioactive decay is inherently probabilistic in nature! That
tells you there must be quantum mechanics lurking behind it.
That also tells you why this curve

should not be smooth, even if you could eliminate all

experimental sources of error!

Here’s a worthwhile radioactivity applet.

Example: radon (nasty stuff*) has a half-life of 3.8 days. If you
start with 1 mg of radon, after 3.8 days you will have 0.5 mg of
radon.
Days Radon Left (mg)
0 1
3.8 0.5
7.4 0.25
11.4 0.125

The mean lifetime of a nucleus is different than its half-life. It

turns out that
T = 1.44 T1/2 .
See Beiser for details but don’t worry about this for the final.

*But perhaps not as dangerous as once believed.

radiometric dating

Carbon-14 dating is the best-known example. Carbon-14 is

formed in the atmosphere by the reaction
14
7 N + 01 n  146 C + 11 H .

This reaction is continually taking place in the atmosphere, and

the carbon-14 atoms are continually beta decaying to nitrogen-
14, with a half-life of 5760 years.

Because carbon-14 is continually being created and decaying,

we eventually reach a steady state condition, where there is a
constant amount of carbon-14 in the atmosphere.
Living things take up carbon-14 as long as they are alive, and
have the same ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 as does the
atmosphere.
When living things die, they stop taking up carbon-14, and the
radioactive carbon-14 decays.
If we compare the carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio in a dead
organism with a living one, we can tell how long the carbon-14
has been decaying without replenishing, and therefore how
long the organism has been dead.
This assumes the carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio in the
atmosphere is the same now as it was when the
organism died.

It also assumes living organisms now are essentially the

same in their carbon content as were similar organisms
long ago.
Carbon-14 dating takes us back a relatively short time, and
both assumptions seem to be valid.

The formula for radiocarbon dating, derived from R = R0 e-t, is

1 R0
t = ln .
 R

We need to know the activity R0 of the organism at death,

which is the reason for the second assumption on the previous
slide.

Radiocarbon dating is good for a few half-lives of carbon-14, or

50,000 or so years.
A similar approach can be taken with radioactive potassium,
rubidium, or uranium, to go back much further in time.

We have to find parent-daughter decay schemes that give us

unique daughter nuclei; i.e., they could have only come from
decay of the parent.

If we assume the daughter nuclei came only from the original

radioactive nuclei, we can calculate the original number, and
then calculate the decay time.

We measure the time back to some event caused the clock to

start "ticking;" i.e., an event that froze into the sample the
particular number of parent atoms which resulted in the
observed number of daughter atoms.
Radiocarbon example. A piece of wood has 13 disintegrations
per minute per gram of carbon. The activity of living wood is 16
dpm per gram. How long ago did the tree die?

1 R0
t = ln .
 R

5760 years 16
t = ln = 1726 years .
0.693 13

12.3 Radioactive Series

FS2003—skip this section (good idea to read it anyway).

Most radionuclides belong to one of four radioactive series.
The masses of the nuclides in these four series are given by
A = 4n
A = 4n+1
A = 4n+2
A = 4n+3.

The fact that there are only four decay series may seem
surprising at first, but it's not, if you think about it. The kinds of
radioactive decay we mentioned above involve either a change
in mass number A of 4 (alpha decay) or of 0 (all of the others).

Thus, if we start with a nuclide of mass number A0, it can only

decay into nuclides of mass number A0-4,
A0-8, etc.
This table in Beiser summarizes radioactive series further:

Stable End
Mass Numbers Series Parent Product

4n thorium Th232 Pb 208

90 82

4n+1 neptunium 237 209

93Np 83Bi

4n+2 uranium 239 206

92U 82Pb

4n+3 actinium U235 Pb 207

92 82

I used old-fashioned nuclide notation Th232 because it’s a

90
whole lot easier in powerpoint!
The thorium
series.

note:

 decay

 decay

branch at
216Po

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/radser.html
Visit http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/
nuclear/radser.html to see charts of the other three series.

We can calculate the number of daughter nuclei present as a

function of time in these decay series.