NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

AND ENERGY
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
• Nuclear stability
• Radioactivity
• Transmutation, nuclear fission, and nuclear fusion

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
• Study of reactions involving changes in
atomic nuclei or the dense region
consisting of protons and neutrons at
the center of an atom

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
Isotopes of Carbon:

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR STABILITY
From Coulomb’s law, we know that like charges repel and unlike
charges attract one another. The stability of any nucleus is
determined by the difference between coulombic repulsion and
the short-range attraction.
If repulsion > attraction, the nucleus disintegrates, emitting
particles and/or radiation.
If attractive forces prevail, the nucleus is stable.

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR STABILITY
The principal factor that determines whether a nucleus is stable
is the neutron-to proton ratio (n/p).
• n/p is close to 1 = low atomic number = stable
• atomic number = n/p > 1. This means that a larger number of
neutrons is needed to counteract the strong repulsion among
the protons and stabilize the nucleus.

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR STABILITY
A nucleus is stable if it cannot be
transformed into another
configuration without adding energy
from the outside. Of the thousands
of nuclides that exist, about 250 are
stable.
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.
General Chemistry
NUCLEAR STABILITY

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR
STABILITY

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR REACTIONS

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
A balanced nuclear reaction equation indicates that there is a
rearrangement during a nuclear reaction in the nucleons
(subatomic particles within the atoms’ nuclei) rather than atoms.
Nuclear reactions also follow conservation laws, and they are
balanced in two ways:
1. Conservation of Mass number: The sum of the mass numbers
of the reactants equals the sum of the mass numbers of the
products.
2. Conservation of Atomic number: The sum of the charges of
the reactants equals the sum of the charges of the products.
General Chemistry
NUCLEAR REACTIONS

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR REACTIONS

General Chemistry
NUCLEAR REACTIONS

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVITY
NOTABLE SCIENTISTS
Henry Antoine Becquerel
• First person to discover the natural
evidence of radioactivity
• Radioactivity is the result of an atom
trying to reach a more stable
nuclear configuration.

General Chemistry
NOTABLE SCIENTISTS
Pierre and Marie Curie
• worked together in isolating
polonium and radium. They were
the first to use the term
"radioactivity" and were pioneers
in its study.
• Together with Becquerel, received
the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903
for their joint research in radiation
phenomena.
General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY
The process of radioactive decay, can be
achieved via three primary methods:
1. Alpha decay
Radioactive nucleus changes into a
different more stable nucleus, with 2 fewer
protons and 2 fewer neutrons, and a helium
nucleus is emitted. The alpha particles lose
energy in these collisions and they do not
penetrate very far through materials, and
can be stopped by just 30cm of air or a
sheet of paper. General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY
2. Beta decay

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RADIOACTIVE DECAY

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RADIOACTIVE DECAY
3. Spontaneous fission
The nucleus will split into two nearly equal fragments and several
free neutrons. A large amount of energy is also released.

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY

Th,

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVITY
Each individual radioactive substance has a characteristic decay
period or half-life. A half-life is the interval of time required for one-half
of the atomic nuclei of a radioactive sample to decay. It can range
from thousands of years to milliseconds.
Cobalt-60, which is used in radiation cancer therapy, has half-life of
5.27 years.

After 5.27 After another

Year 0 years, 5.27 years,
4g Co-60, ¼ of
16g Co-60 8g Co-60, half original
the radiation radiation

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVITY

General Chemistry
Half Life

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY
Example 5:
The half-life of 20F is 11.0 s. If a sample initially contains 5.00 g of 20F,
how much 20F remains after 44.0 s?

Less than 1/3 of a gram of 20F remains.

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY
Practice Exercise:

The half-life of 44Ti is 60.0 y. A sample initially contains 0.600 g

of 44Ti. How much 44Ti remains after 180.0 y?

The half-life of 44Ti is 60.0 y. A sample initially contains 0.600 g

of 44Ti. How much 44Ti remains after 75.0 y using the rate
constant, k?

General Chemistry
RADIOACTIVE DECAY
Practice Exercise:

The half-life of 44Ti is 60.0 y. A sample initially contains 0.600 g

of 44Ti. How much 44Ti remains after 180.0 y? (0.075g 44Ti)

The half-life of 44Ti is 60.0 y. A sample initially contains 0.600 g

of 44Ti. How much 44Ti remains after 75.0 y using the rate
constant, k? (0.2523g 44Ti)

General Chemistry