Nuclear Structure

Nuclear Composition
Atomic nuclei of the same element have the same number of protons but can have
different number of neutrons.

Electron structure of the atom is known and is due to the electric force.
The force holds the nucleus together are stronger.

When proton is absorbed or emitted or when chemical bond is formed of broken a

few electronvolts is released or absorbed.

Changes in nuclear structure involve energies in the range of MeV which is million
times greater that electric force.
Nucleus contain neutron and protons.

Neutron is uncharged while proton is charged.

Neutron is heavier than proton.

Neutron and proton together are called nucleons.

Atomic number is the number of protons and is same with electron.

The varieties of an element that differ in the numbers of neutrons their nuclei contain are called isotopes.

The hydrogen isotope deuterium is stable whereas tritium is unstable and eventually changes into an isotope of
helium.

The flux of cosmic rays from a space continually replenishes the earth’s tritium by nuclear reactions in the
atmosphere.

About 2kg of tritium of natural origin is present in oceans.

In heavy water deuterium atoms combine with oxygen instead of hydrogen and oxygen.
 A
The conventional symbhol for the nuclear species is
Z X

X=Chemical symbol of element

A=Mass number of nuclide= number of nucleons in the nucleus
Z=Atomic number of the element= number of protons in the nucleus

Example
1
For ordinary hydrogen 1 H
For deuterium 2
H
1

35
The two isotopes of chlorine Cl(Z=17) contains 18 and 20 neutrons.
17 Cl
37
17 Cl
In his gold foil experiment, Rutherford bombarded a beam of alpha particles
on an ultrathin gold foil and then detected the scattered alpha particles in
zinc sulfide (ZnS) screen.

Results

1.Most of the particles pass through the foil without any deflection.
2.Some of the alpha particles deflect at small angle.
3.Very few even bounce back (1 in 20,000).

Conclusion.

Based on his observations, Rutherford proposed the following structural

features of an atom:

Based on his observations, Rutherford proposed the following structural features of an atom:

1.Most of the atom’s mass and its entire positive charge are confined in a small core, called nucleus. The positively
charged particle is called proton.

2.Most of the volume of an atom is empty space.

3.The number of negatively charged electrons dispersed outside the nucleus is same as number of positively charge in
the nucleus. It explains the overall electrical neutrality of an atom
But scientists soon realized that the atomic model offered by Rutherford is not complete.

Various experiments showed that mass of the nucleus is approximately twice than the number of proton.

What is the origin of this additional mass?

Rutherford postulated the existence of some neutral particle having mass similar to proton but there was
no direct experimental evidence.

Several theories and experimental observations eventually led the discovery of neutron.
•In 1930, W. Bothe and H. Becker found an electrically neutral radiation when they bombarded
beryllium with alpha particle.

•They thought it was photons with high energy (gamma rays).

•In 1932, Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie showed that this ray can eject protons when it hits paraffin
or H-containing compounds.

• The question arose that how mass less photon could eject protons which are 1836 times heavier
than electrons. So the ejected rays in bombardment of beryllium with alpha particles cannot be
photon.
•In 1932, James Chadwick performed the same experiment as Irène and Frédéric Joliot-Curie but he
used many different target of bombardment besides paraffin.

• By analyzing the energies of different targets after bombardment he discovered the existence of a
new particle which is charge less and has similar mass to proton.

•This particle is called neutron.

•Beryllium undergoes the following reaction when it is bombarded with alpha particle.
9
4 Be 24  126 C  01n
 Atomic Mass
Atomic mass is for neutral atoms, not for nuclei.

Atomic mass always includes the mass of electrons.

The value of mass unit is atomic mass unit=1u=1.66054X10-27kg.

The energy equivalent of mass unit is 931.49 MeV.

Nuclear Radii
If a nuclear radius is R, the corresponding volume is 4/3πR3 so R3 is proportional to atomic mass A.

Then the relation could be expressed in inverse form R=R0A1/3

The value of R0=1.2X10-15m≈1.2fm

The femtometer is also called Fermi in honour of Enrico Fermi who is a pioneer in nuclear physics.
Spin and Magnetic Moment
Proton and neutron are Fermion with spin quantum number s=1/2

The magnitude of spin angular momentum

1
Spin magnetic quantum number m s  
2

Nuclear magnetic moment are expressed in nuclear

magnetons  
e  27
 5.051  10 JT  3.152  10 8
eV / T
N
2m p

Spin magnatic moments of neutron and proton have

components in any direction
 pz  2.793 N
 nz  1.913 N
 1
There are two possibilities of μpz and μnz depending on whether ms  
2

When a nucleus whose magnetic moment has the z component μz is

in a constant magnetic field B, the magnetic potential energy
of the nucleus is
U m   z B

The energy is negative when μz is in the same B direction and positive when μz in
the opposite to B.

Each angular momentum state of the nucleus is split into components (like in the
Zeeman effect).
The energy difference between the sublevels is

E  2  pz B

A photon with energy will be emitted when a proton in upper spin flips its spin to fall
to the lower state.
Aproton in the lower state can be raised to the upper state by absorbing a photon of
this energy.
E 2 pz B
L  
h h
Example
Find the energy difference between spin-up and spin-down states of proton in
magnetic field of B=1.0Tesla.What is the Larmer frequenciy of proton in this
field?
 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance

atomic nuclei in absence of atomic nuclei in presence of

magnetic field external magnetic field

atomic nuclei can either align parallel

(lower E) or antiparallel (higher E)
• Magnetic nuclei are in resonance with external magnetic field if they absorb
energy and “spin-flip” from low energy state (parallel orientation) to high energy
state (antiparallel orientation).
Dependence of the difference in energy between lower and higher
nuclear spin levels of the hydrogen atom
 Dependence of the difference in energy between lower and higher
nuclear spin levels of the hydrogen atom

Nuclei in different environments (i.e. with different amounts of electron

density around them) will require different amounts of energy to “flip” to
higher energy different spin state
Experimental Set-up for NMR

Fig. 13-4, p. 444

16
 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1991

"for his contributions to the development of the methodology of high

resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy"

Richard R. Ernst
 The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2002

"for his development of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for determining the
three-dimensional structure of biological macromolecules in solution"

Kurt Wüthrich
 The Nobel Prize in Medicine 2003

"for their discoveries concerning magnetic resonance imaging "

Paul C. Lauterbur Sir Peter Mansfield

Stable nuclei
Why some combinations of neutrons and protons are more stable than others.

We know neuclons obey exclusion principle.

Each nuclear energy level can contain two neutrons of opposite spins and two protons of
opposite spins.

Each energy level in nuclei are filled in sequence like energy levels in atoms to achieve
configuration of minimum energy and therefore maximum stability.

Therefore, the tendency of N to equal Z form the stable nucleus.

The light nuclei A<20 contains equal number of neutrons and protons.

Whereas the heavier nuclei the proportion of neutrons number becomes

progressively greater. So, heavier nuclei are unstable.
 The Stable Region

• Stability is favoured by even numbers of protons and neutrons

• Not usually equal numbers.

• Plotting neutron number (A) against proton number (Z) for all known
nuclei, shows area of stability.

• For very light elements N ≈ Z gives stable elements 1:1 up to 40

20Ca.

• Ratio gradually rises (A>Z) until by element 83 (Bi, the last one with a
stable isotope) it is ~1.5
 The Stable Region

• If the N/P ratio is too high for stability then isotope is

neutron rich.

• likely to decay by β- emission

• If the N/P ratio is too low for stability then isotope is

proton rich.

• likely to decay by β+ emission or electron capture

 Stable Isotopes

140

120
Neutron-rich area
β- decay favoured
Mass Number (A)

100

80

60

40 Proton-rich area
β+ or EC decay favoured
20

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Atomic Number (Z)
 Nuclear Energy Levels

• Analogous to filled electron shells.

• No principal quantum number.

• Levels are determined by angular momentum quantum number.

• Jumps between levels caused by absorption or emission of energy

• Often gamma.
Neutron : Proton Ratio

• Approximately 275 nuclei have shown no evidence of radioactive decay.

• ~60% of these have:

• even numbers of protons and

• even numbers of neutrons
• In general the most abundant on earth.

• Remaining ~40% are about equally divided between:

• even number of protons and odd number of neutrons

• odd number of protons and even number of neutrons
Neutron : Proton Ratio

• There are only 4 ‘stable’ nuclei with an odd number of

protons and neutrons:

• 21H, 63Li, 105B, 147N,

• Relative abundances of 0.015, 7.42, 19.6, 99.63%

• Very light nuclei
• Elements of even atomic number have more stable
isotopes than those of odd atomic number
• Occurs due to energy stabilisation of pairs of protons
and/or neutrons
 Nuclear Decay
Nuclear force-short range-so interact strongly with nearest neighbors.

This effect is referred as the saturation of the nuclear forces.

Coulomb repulsion is throughout the entire nucleus and the ability of neutrons to prevent is limited to
prevent the disruption of nucleus.

Nucleus with Z>83 and A>209 spontaneously transform into lighter one through emission of one or more
alpha particles.
Unstable nuclei change (decay) towards stable states.

The transformation involves emission of secondary particles (radiation):

A
Z X  Y W  Q
A'
Z'
Conservation principles:

• Energy (equivalently, mass)

• Linear momentum

• Angular momentum (including intrinsic spin)

• Charge

are all conserved in radioactive transitions

 Radioactive Decay Processes

The decay processes are named for the (primary)

radiation particle emitted in the transition
 dN
Decay Time   N
d
The rate at which radionuclides decay is governed by a dN
  N
characteristic decay time constant, λ d
dN
   d
N
N(τ) = number of radionuclides at time τ N
dN


N0 = number at time τ = 0  N     d
N0 0
λ = characteristic decay time constant ln N  ln N 0   
N  N 0 e  
The half-life, τ1/2, is the time it takes for a sample to decay to
one-half of its original number, or half of its original activity.

After half time has elapsed, the time is τ=τ1/2, the activity drops to N0/2
1
N  N 0 e 
2
 1
e 2
2
 1  ln 2
2
Taking natural logarithms of both sides
ln 2 0.693
1  
2  
 Alpha Decay

An alpha particle is the same as a helium nucleus;

(two protons and two neutrons)

  24He 2
The general form of alpha decay process is

A
Z X  ZA42Y  24He 2   Q

• Alpha particle always carries Q energy as kinetic energy.

• Alpha decay occurs with heavy nuclides (A > 150)
• Commonly followed by emission of photons.
Beta Decay
A beta(minus, β-) particle is indistinguishable from an electron.
There are also beta(plus, β+)particles.

These are indistinguishable from electrons, except with positive charge (of the same magnitude).

In β- decay, a nuclear neutron is converted into a proton (Z → Z+1)

In β+ decay, a nuclear proton is converted into a neutron (Z → Z-1)

In each case 
the decay products include a neutrino ( ν) or an anti-neutrino 
Neutrinos have no charge, spin 1/2,
 and mass ~ 0.1 - 1 eV.
the fixed Q is shared by ν and  in continuous way
 Electron Capture
An alternative (and competing mechanism) to β+decay is electron capture.
In electron capture, a proton is converted to a neutron, as in β+ decay, however, rather
than emitting a β+, an orbital electron (usually from inner electron shells) is captured by
the nucleus.In this case conversion of a proton to a neutron occurs, and a neutrino
(and additional energy, Q) are emitted from the decay process:

Capture of an electron creates a vacancy in an inner electron shell, which is filled

by another electron from a higher shell. This results in characteristic x-rays, or
Auger electrons.

An example of relevant to nuclear medicine is the following decay:

None of the products of this decay are used in imaging, rather, characteristic x-
rays filling the vacancy are detected by gamma cameras.
 Binding Energy
It is found that the mass of a nucleus is always less than the
sum of the masses of its constituent neutrons and protons
(nucleons)
What is the reason for this? Well Einstein showed that mass
and energy are equivalent. The lower mass shows that the
nucleons in the nucleus are in a lower energy state than if they
were all separate, isolated particles.
It means that there must be some force between the nucleons
that binds them together in the nucleus. This is the strong
force.
This decrease in mass (known as the mass decrement) gives the
binding energy of the particular nucleus in terms of the
equivalent mass.
Say for example if we have a nucleus with Z protons and N
neutrons and mass MA, where A = Z + N then its binding energy
in MeV is given by:

Eb(MeV) = (Zmp + Nmn - MA) x 931.494 MeV/u

The binding per nucleon for a given nuclei is an average found by dividing its total
binding energy by the number of nucleons it contains.
The binding energy for 12 H is (2.2 MeV)/2=1.1 MeV
The binding energy for 209 83 Bi
is (1640MeV)/209=7.8 MeV
If a heavy nucleus is split up into two medium sized ones, each nuclei will have more
binding energy per nucleon than original nucleus.

The extra energy will be given off which is huge.

Example: if uranium nucleus 235 92 U

is broken into two smaller nuclei, the binding
energy difference per nucleon is about 0.8MeV.The total energy given off =
(0.8 MeV/nucleon)(235 nucleons)=188 MeV which is huge amount of energy
 Gamma Emissions
Gamma decay follows the occurrence of beta or alpha decay.

The parent in this case (the daughter elements of the preceding  or β decay, or
electron capture) can be in an excited state that is transitions to a lower energy state
via emission of a gamma, or it can be in a metastable state m, which can have a life-
time of between 10-12 sec. and ~600 years.

Decay of metastable states also follow the exponential decay law, and thus have
characteristic decay times.