JEE Advanced Revision Notes

Chemistry
Nuclear chemistry

Nuclear chemistry involves the study of a branch of chemistry that deals with the
composition of the atomic nuclei and nuclear forces.

Nuclear reaction and radioactive material:

Nuclear forces:
● Protons and neutrons which live in the center are called nucleons, and
forces binding them in the center, are called nuclear forces.
● These are low-lying range forces operating over veritably small distances
1 fermi = 1015 m .
● These forces are 1021 times stronger than the electrostatic forces.
● no and p  are held together by the veritably rapid-fire exchange of nuclear
patches, called mesons.
 
● Mesons may be positively charged (π), negatively charged,   or neutral(

 0 ).
H11   01  n10
n10  10  H11

Radioactivity:
When a particular nucleus emits the radiation spontaneously, such certain nuclei
are known to be radioactive and this phenomenon of disintegration of nuclei
spontaneously is called radioactivity.

Types of Radioactive radiation

● Alpha rays: The rays which bend towards the negative plate by carrying
the positive charge.
● Beta rays: The rays which bend towards the positive plate by carrying the
negative charge.
● Gamma rays: These are uncharged rays that pass straight through the
electric field.

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Properties of alpha, beta, and gamma rays:

Property α- rays β-rays γ- rays

Positively
charge He Negatively
Nature nuclei charge He Electromagnetic
radiation
 He  2 nuclei 1 0

Mass 4u 1/1834 u Negligible

5-10% of 96-99% of Same as the
Velocity the velocity the velocity speed of the
of light. of light. light.
Charge +2 unit -1 unit Zero
Kinetic
Very high High Low
energy
Penetrating
Small Medium High
power
Ionising
Maximum Moderate Minimum
power
Effect of Produce
Little effect Very less effect
ZnS luminosity

Different types of radiations:

Alpha radiation:
● The α- particle which is similar to helium nucleus includes two protons and
two neutrons.
● The emission part of an alpha particle from an atom’s nucleus is called α-
radiation.
When an atom emits an α-particle, the mass of atoms decreases by 4 units.
238
U 92  He24  Th90
234
.

Beta radiation:
It is the transformation of a neutron into a proton through the emission of an
electron. Or the reverse process is transforming a proton into a neutron through
the emission of a positron (similar to an electron, but with a positive charge).

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During this emission, when an atom emits β- particles, the mass of the atom will
not change. This resulted in the increase of atomic number by one.
C614  e01  N 714

Gamma Radiation:
It involves the emigration of electromagnetic energy from an atoms’s nucleus.
During gamma radiation, no particles are emitted; therefore, it doesn't beget the
vacillation of atoms.
60
Co27  Ni28
60
 e01  2 00

Radioactive disintegration:
The process of converting one radio-active nucleus into another by emitting the
𝛂, 𝛃, and 𝛄 rays.

Methods of Radioactive disintegration:

● Alpha decay: The emission of an alpha particle, decreases the atomic
number by 2 units and mass number by 4 units.
238
U 92  He24  Th90
234

Change in mass number

Number of  -particle emitted=
4
● Beta decay: Emission of   particle, increases the atomic number by 1
unit but does not affect the mass.
This emission gives isotopes.
C614  e01  N 714
A number of   particles emitted =
2  Number of   particles  (changein atomic number )
● Gamma decay: Emission of γ-rays does not affect the atomic number as
well as mass number.

Rate of disintegration:
The number of atoms of radioactive elements that disintegrate in a unit of time.
dN
Rate of decay = N
dt

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 dN
(Or)  kN
dt
Where, k= decay constant
2.303 N
k log 0
t Nt
Here, N 0 =number of atoms initially
Nt = a number of atoms after time t.
All radioactive changes follow first order kinetics. Total life span of a radioactive
element is infinite.

 
Half-life period  t 1  :
 
 2
The amount of time required by ab radioactive substance (or one half the atoms)
to disintegrate or transform into a different substance.
t 1  0.693 / k
2
Half life is related to the total time as, T  n  t 1
2
n
1
Where, n is calculated from the relation Nt  N 0  
2
N 0 = initial amount.
N1 = amount after time T.
n = number of half-lives.

Average Life    :

1

k
1 1
  1.44  t1/ 2
k 0.693 / t1/ 2

Activity of Radioactive substance:

Activity is defined as the number of disintegrations occurring in a radioactive
substance per second.
Higher is the activity of a substance, faster will be its disintegration.

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Activity = kN
k  wt. of element  N A

at. wt. of element
( N A =Avogadro’s number = 6.023  1023 ).

Radioactive Disintegration series:

Series 4n 4n+1 4n+2 4n+3

Name Thorium Neptunium Uranium Actinium

Parent 232 241 238 235
TH 90 Pu94 U 92 U 92
element
Prominent 232 237 238 277
Th90 Np93 U 92 Ac89
element
End 208 209 206 207
Pb82 Bi83 Pb82 Pb82
product
Number of
 6  8  8  7
particles
 4  5  6  4
lost

Nuclear Reactions:
● Nuclear fission: Nucleus in the atoms splits into smaller parts releasing a
huge amount of energy in the process.
● Nuclear Fusion: The reaction in which two or more elements fuse together
to form a large element, by releasing a large amount of energy in the
process.

Application of Radioactivity:
● Estimation of age (Dating Technique)
Carbon dating technique.
Uranium dating technique.
● Medical use
In therapeutic procedures.
Imaging procedure.

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Solved questions:
1) Two radioactive materials A and B have decay constants 10λ and λ,
respectively. If initially, they have the same number of nuclei, then the ratio
of the number of nuclei of A to that of B will be 1/e after a time (t). Find the
value of t.
Options:
1
1) λ
9
11
2) λ
10
1
3) λ
10
1
4) λ
11
Ans: Correct answer is (1).
N  N 0e   / t
So, N1 = N0e - 10 / t and N 2 = N0e -  / t

 1  N1 
N 0e10t 
  
 e  N2 N 0e   t
 1  9t 1 9t
 e e e
e
1  9t
1
t
9

2) The half-life period of a radioactive element X is the same as the mean

lifetime of another radioactive element Y. Initially, they have the same
number of atoms. Then-
Option:
1) X and Y decay at the same rate always
2) X will decay faster than Y
3) Y will decay faster than X
4) X and Y have the same decay rate initially
Ans: Correct answer is (3).

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T1 , half-life of X  Tmean , mean life of Y
2
0.069 1
Or 
x y
x  0.693 y
x   y
Rate of decay = n
Initially, number of atoms (N) of both are equal but since x   y , therefore Y
will decay at a faster rate than X.
Hence, Y will decay faster than X.

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