Advanced Chemistry

Third Quarter
Week 3
Hand Out

Topics to Discuss!

 Week 1 (Discovery of Radioactivity and Alpha, Beta, & Gamma Radiation)

 Week 2 (Natural Radioactivity vs Artificial Radioactivity)
 Week 3 (Nuclear Stability and Nuclear Decay)
 Week 4 (Nuclear Fission and Nuclear Fusion)
 Week 5 (Applications and Effects of Nuclear Reactions)
 Week 6 (Manhattan Project)
 Week 7 (Nuclear Power: The Promises and Problems)

Natural Stability and Nuclear Decay

A major concept to remember: “Nature seeks the lowest energy
state”. In the lowest energy state, things are most stable…less
likely to change. The following information that talks about
stability is all based on the nucleus tending towards the lowest
energy state. Stable atoms have low energy states.

What is Nuclear Stability?

Nuclear stability means that nucleus is stable meaning that it does not spontaneously emit any kind of
radioactivity (radiation).

Protons and neutrons, collectively called nucleons, are packed together tightly in a nucleus. To hold positively
charged protons together in the very small volume of a nucleus requires very strong attractive forces because
the positively charged protons repel one another strongly at such short distances. The force of attraction that
holds the nucleus together is the strong nuclear force. This force acts between protons, between neutrons, and
between protons and neutrons. It is very different from the electrostatic force that holds negatively charged
electrons around a positively charged nucleus. Over distances less than 10−15 meters and within the nucleus,
the strong nuclear force is much stronger than electrostatic repulsions between protons; over larger distances
and outside the nucleus, it is essentially nonexistent.

One factor that affects the stability of nucleus is the ratio of neutron and proton. A plot of the number of
neutrons versus the number of protons for stable nuclei reveals that the stable isotopes fall into a narrow band.
This region is known as the band of stability (also called the belt, zone, or valley of stability). The straight line
in Figure 1 represents nuclei that have a 1:1 ratio of protons to neutrons (n:p ratio). Note that the lighter stable
nuclei, in general, have equal numbers of protons and neutrons. For example, nitrogen-14 has seven protons and
seven neutrons. Heavier stable nuclei, however, have increasingly more neutrons than protons. For example: the
stable nuclide iron-56 has 30 neutrons and 26 protons, an n:p ratio of 1.15, whereas the stable nuclide lead-207
has 125 neutrons and 82 protons, an n:p ratio equal to 1.52. This is because larger nuclei have more proton–
proton repulsions and require larger numbers of neutrons to provide compensating strong forces to overcome
these electrostatic repulsions and hold the nucleus together.

Figure 1. This plot shows the nuclides that are known to exist and those that are stable. The stable nuclides are indicated in blue, and
the unstable nuclides are indicated in green. Note that all isotopes of elements with atomic numbers greater than 83 are unstable. The
solid line is the line where n = Z.

Figure 2. Stable and radioactive isotopes as a function of numbers of neutrons and protons in a nucleus. The stable nuclei (dark blue
dots) define a region known as the belt of stability.
The nuclei that are to the left or to the right of the band of stability are unstable and exhibit  radioactivity. They
change spontaneously (decay) into other nuclei that are either in, or closer to, the band of stability. These
nuclear decay reactions convert one unstable isotope (or radioisotope) into another, more stable, isotope.

The type of radioactive decay that a particular radionuclide undergoes depends largely on how its neutron-to-
proton ratio compares with those of nearby nuclei that lie within the belt of stability. We can envision three
general situations:

1. Nuclei above the belt of stability (high neutron-to-proton ratios). These neutron-rich nuclei can lower their
ratio and thereby move toward the belt of stability by emitting a beta particle because beta emission decreases
the number of neutrons and increases the number of protons.

2. Nuclei below the belt of stability (low neutron-to-proton ratios). These proton-rich nuclei can increase their
ratio and so move closer to the belt of stability by either positron emission or electron capture because both
decays increase the number of neutrons and decrease the number of protons (Equations 21.5 and 21.7).
Positron emission is more common among lighter nuclei. Electron capture becomes increasingly common as
the nuclear charge increases.

3. Nuclei with atomic numbers ≥ 84. These heavy nuclei tend to undergo alpha emission, which decreases both
the number of neutrons and the number of protons by two, moving the nucleus diagonally toward the belt of
stability.

How do we predict nuclear stability?

The Odd-Even Rule and the Magic Numbers
Nuclei with even numbers of protons, neutrons, or both are more likely to be stable (see Table 1). Nuclei with
certain numbers of nucleons, known as magic numbers, are stable against nuclear decay. These numbers of
protons or neutrons (2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, and 126) make complete shells in the nucleus. These are similar in
concept to the stable electron shells observed for the noble gases. Nuclei that have magic numbers of both

protons and neutrons, such as  and  are called “double magic” and are particularly
stable. These trends in nuclear stability may be rationalized by considering a quantum mechanical model of
nuclear energy states. The details of this model are beyond the scope of this lesson.

The magic numbers:

proton: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 114

neutron: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126, 184
Another Number of Proton Neutron Nuclides simplest ways of predicting nuclear
stability is Stable Number Number Stability based on whether a nucleus contains an
odd/even Isotopes number of protons and neutrons.
157 even even most stable

53 even odd even more

stable
50 odd even more stable

5 odd odd least stable

Table 1. Number of stable nuclides with even and odd

numbers of nucleons
Nuclei with atomic numbers higher than 82 are radioactive. Bismuth-209, atomic number 83, was thought to be
stable for a very long time and can be handled as though it was non-radioactive. Although it is radioactive, it
has an exceptionally long half-life among radionuclides. The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of
time it takes for one-half of the radioactive isotope to decay.

Stability Rules
• Nuclides containing odd numbers of both protons and neutrons are the least stable and this means more
radioactive.
• Nuclides containing even numbers of both protons and neutrons are most stable and this means less
radioactive.
• Nuclides contain odd numbers of protons and even numbers of neutrons are less stable than nuclides
containing even numbers of protons and odd numbers of neutrons.
• In general, nuclear stability is greater for nuclides containing even numbers of protons and neutrons or
both.

Nuclear Decay
Nuclear decay occurs when the nucleus of an atom is unstable and spontaneously emits energy in the form of
radiation. The result is that the nucleus changes into the nucleus of one or more other elements. These daughter
nuclei have a lower mass and are more stable (lower in energy) than the parent nucleus. Nuclear decay is also
called radioactive decay, and it occurs in a series of sequential reactions until a stable nucleus is reached.

Nuclear reactions release much more energy—orders of magnitude more—than exothermic chemical reactions.

Nuclear radiation has applications in energy production, weapons development, cancer treatment, and imaging
science. The first two applications are often politically fraught.

Types of Nuclear Decay

There are six common types of nuclear decay.

1. Alpha decay produces a helium-4 nucleus, which is also known as an alpha particle. The daughter
nucleus therefore contains two fewer protons and two fewer neutrons than the parent. This type of
emission is commonly observed in nuclei where the atomic mass is 200 or greater.

The general reaction is as follows:

Examples are shown in the following:

2. Beta decay is commonly observed in nuclei that have a large number of neutrons. A neutron is split into
a proton and a high-energy electron (called the beta particle), the latter of which is ejected from the
nucleus.
 The general reaction for beta decay is therefore

Examples are shown if the following:

3. Gamma emission is unique in that it does not necessarily change one element into another. Often, the
products of nuclear decay reactions are formed in an excited state. Similar to the way an electron in an
excited state will emit energy as it returns to the ground state, the daughter nuclei release a high-energy
photon (a gamma ray) as it reaches its stable form. This process may take place instantaneously or
several hours after the first nuclear reaction has taken place, depending on the element.

Gamma ( γ ) emission can occur virtually instantaneously, as it does in the alpha decay of uranium-238
to thorium-234, where the asterisk denotes an excited state

If we disregard the decay event that created the excited nucleus, then
 or more generally,

Other examples:

4. Positron Emission

Because a positron has the same mass as an electron but opposite charge, positron emission is the
opposite of beta decay. Thus positron emission is characteristic of neutron-poor nuclei, which decay by
transforming a proton to a neutron and emitting a high-energy positron:

The general reaction for positron emission is therefore,

Like beta decay, positron emission does not change the mass number of the nucleus. In this case,
however, the atomic number of the daughter nucleus is lower by 1 than that of the parent. Thus the
neutron-to-proton ratio has increased, again moving the nucleus closer to the band of stable nuclei. For
example, carbon-11 undergoes positron emission to form boron-11:

5. Electron Capture
 A neutron-poor nucleus can decay by either positron emission or electron
capture (EC), in which an electron in an inner shell reacts with a proton to
produce a neutron:

When a second electron moves from an outer shell to take the place of the
lower-energy electron that was absorbed by the nucleus, an x-ray is emitted. The
overall reaction for electron capture is thus

6. Spontaneous Fission

Only very massive nuclei with high neutron-to-proton ratios can

undergo spontaneous fission, in which the nucleus breaks into two
pieces that have different atomic numbers and atomic masses. This
process is most important for the transactinide elements, with Z ≥ 104.
Spontaneous fission is invariably accompanied by the release of large
amounts of energy, and it is usually accompanied by the emission of
several neutrons as well.

An example is the spontaneous fission of 254Cf98, which gives a

distribution of fission products; one possible set of products is shown
in the following equation:

Half-life
- Every radioisotope has a characteristic rate of decay, which is measured by its half-life.
- Half-life is the time required for one-half of the nuclei to decay.
- During each half-life, half of the remaining radioactive atoms decay into atoms of a new element.
 - Each radioactive nuclide has its own half-life. Half-lives can be as short as a fraction of a second or
as long as billions of years.

Sources:

https://www.brightstorm.com/science/chemistry/nuclear-chemistry/nuclear-stability/

https://opentextbc.ca/chemistry/chapter/21-1-nuclear-structure-and-stability/

https://www.jove.com/science-education/11445/nuclear-stability

http://www.crossroadsacademy.org/crossroads/wp-content/uploads/2016//05/Nuclear-Stability.pdf

http://www.kentchemistry.com/links/Nuclear/BandStability.htm

https://chem.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/General_Chemistry/Book%3A_Chemistry_(Averill_and_Eldredge)/
20%3A_Nuclear_Chemistry/20.2%3A_Nuclear_Reactions#Table_20.1

https://www.slideshare.net/casteelj/58-nuclear-stability-and-halflife