12/15/22

University Physics with Modern Physics

Fifteenth Edition, Global Edition, in SI Units

Chapter 43
Nuclear Physics

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Learning Outcomes
In this chapter, you’ll learn…
• some key properties of atomic nuclei, including radii,
densities, spins, and magnetic moments.
• how the binding energy of a nucleus depends on the
numbers of protons and neutrons that it contains.
• how the decay rate of a radioactive substance depends on
time.
• some of the biological hazards and medical uses of
radiation.
• some important types of nuclear reactions, and how they
can be used to generate energy.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

1
 12/15/22

Introduction
• This sculpture of a woolly mammoth,
just 3.7 cm in length, was carved from
a mammoth’s ivory tusk by an artist
who lived in southwestern Germany
35,000 years ago.

• When an organism dies, it stops taking in carbon from

atmospheric CO2.
• Some of this carbon is radioactive 14 C, which decays with a
half-life of 5730 years.
• By measuring the proportion of 14 C that remains in the
specimen, scientists can determine how long ago the
organism died.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Properties of Nuclei
• The nucleon number A is the total number of protons and neutrons in
the nucleus.
• The radius of most nuclei is given by:

• This equation indicates that all nuclei have approximately the same
density.
• The nucleon number A is also called the mass number because it is
the nearest whole number to the mass of the nucleus measured in
unified atomic mass units (u).
1 u = 1.66 ´ 10 -27 kg
• Video Tutor Solution: Example 43.1
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

2
 12/15/22

Nuclides and Isotopes (1 of 2)

• The atomic number Z is the number of protons in the
nucleus.
• The neutron number N is the number of neutrons in the
nucleus.
• Therefore the nucleon number is A = Z + N.
• A nuclide is a single nuclear species having specific
values for both Z and N.
• The isotopes of an element have different numbers of
neutrons.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Nuclides and Isotopes (2 of 2)

• The building blocks of the atom are the proton, neutron, and
electron. The masses of these particles are:
Proton: mp = 1.007 u = 1.673 ´ 10 -27 kg
Neutron: mn = 1.009 u = 1.675 ´ 10 -27 kg
Electron: me = 0.0005486 u = 9.109 ´ 10 -31kg
A
• The general format for an element El is Z El.
• For example, the most common isotope of chlorine has A = 35,
35
• Z = 17, and is written 17 Cl and pronounced “chlorine-35.”
• This name of the element determines the atomic number
Z, so the pre-subscript Z is sometimes omitted, as in 35 Cl.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

3
 12/15/22

Kärnspinn och magnetiskt moment

På samma sätt som elektroner är nukleoner (protoner och
neutroner) spin-1/2 partiklar

Nukleonspinn S

Nukleonspinnets z-komponent

Dessutom banmoment L vars z-component är Lz är kvantiserad på

samma sätt som för elektronen

Totala rörelsemängdsmomentet ges av vektorsumman av samtliga

nukleoners spin och banmoment:

och z-component:

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Kärnspin och magnetiskt moment

På samma sätt som för elektronen har vi en kärnmagneton:

vilken är 1836 ggr mindre än Bohr magntonen

Märkligt nog:

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

4
 12/15/22

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and

MRI (1 of 4)

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and

MRI (2 of 4)

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

10

5
 12/15/22

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and MRI

(3 of 4)

• Using NMR, frequencies

and magnetic fields can be
measured very precisely.
• An elaboration of this basic
idea leads to magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI),
a noninvasive medical
imaging technique that
discriminates among
various types of body
tissues on the basis of the
differing environments of
protons in the tissues.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

11

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and MRI

(4 of 4)

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

12

6
 12/15/22

Nuclear Binding Energy

• Because energy must be added to a nucleus to separate it
into its individual protons and neutrons, the total rest
energy E0 of the separated nucleons is greater than the
rest energy of the nucleus.
• Thus the rest energy of the nucleus is E0 − EB.
• The energy that must be added to separate the nucleons is
called the binding energy EB:

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

13

Binding Energy Per Nucleon as a

Function of A

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

14

7
 12/15/22

The Nuclear Force

• The nuclear force binds protons and neutrons together. It
is an example of the strong interaction.
• Important characteristics of the nuclear force:
– It does not depend on charge. Protons and neutrons are
bound. It has a short range, of the order of nuclear
dimensions.
– Because of its short range, a nucleon only interacts with
those in its immediate vicinity.
– It favors binding of pairs of protons or neutrons with opposite
spins and with pairs of pairs (a pair of protons and a pair of
neutrons, each pair having opposite spins).

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

15

Nuclear Models (1 of 2)
• The shell model of nuclear structure is
analogous to the central-field
approximation in atomic physics (see
Section 41.6).
• We picture each nucleon as moving in
a potential that represents the
averaged-out effect of all the other
nucleons.
• The potential energy Unuc due to the
nuclear force (shown in the figure) is
the same for protons and neutrons.
• For neutrons, it is the total potential
energy.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

16

8
 12/15/22

Nuclear Models (2 of 2)
• We consider each proton to interact
with a sphere of uniform charge
density, with radius R and total
charge (Z – 1)e.
• The figure shows the nuclear,
electric, and total potential energies
for a proton as functions of the
distance r from the center of the
nucleus.

• The purple curve shows the total

potential energy Utot of the proton,
which is the sum of the nuclear
(Unuc) and electric (Uel) potential
energies.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

17

Nuclear Stability and Radioactivity

• Among about 2500 known
nuclides, fewer than 300 are
stable.
• The others are unstable structures
that decay to form other nuclides
by emitting particles and
electromagnetic radiation, a
process called radioactivity.

• The stable nuclides are shown by

dots on a Segrè chart (shown),
where the neutron number N and
proton number (or atomic number)
Z for each nuclide are plotted.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

18

9
 12/15/22

Alpha Decay (1 of 3)
• When an unstable nucleus (such as
radium-226) decays into a different
nuclide (such as radon-222), it can
emit an alpha particle.
• An alpha particle is a 4He nucleus, two
protons and two neutrons bound
together, with total spin zero.

• When a nucleus emits an alpha

particle, its N and Z values each
decrease by 2 and A decreases by 4.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

19

Alpha Decay (2 of 3)
• Note that in alpha decay, the α particle tunnels through a
potential-energy barrier, as shown.
• You may want to review the discussion of tunneling in
Section 40.4.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

20

10
 12/15/22

Alpha Decay (3 of 3)
• Alpha decay is possible whenever the mass of the original
neutral atom is greater than the sum of the masses of the final
neutral atom and a neutral 4 He atom.

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 43.5

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

21

Segrè chart
showing the
uranium 238U decay
series
Figure 43.7 Segrè
chart showing the
uranium 238U decay
series, terminating with
the stable nuclide
206Pb. The times are

half-lives (discussed in
the next section), given
in years (y), days (d),
hours (h), minutes (m),
or seconds (s).

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

22

11
 12/15/22

Beta Decay
• There are three types of beta decay: beta-minus, beta-plus, and
electron capture.
• A beta-minus b particle is an electron.
-

• Emission of a b involves transformation of a neutron into a

-

proton, an electron, and a third particle called an antineutrino:

n ® p + b- +ve
• b + decay involves transformation of a proton into a neutron, a
positron, and a neutrino:
p ® n + b + + ve
• Electron capture occurs when an orbital electron can combine with a
proton in the nucleus to form a neutron and a neutrino:
p + b - ® n + ve
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

23

Gamma Decay
• The energy of internal motion of a nucleus is quantized.
• A typical nucleus has a set of allowed energy levels, including a
ground state and several excited states.
• Because of the great strength of nuclear interactions, excitation
energies of nuclei are typically of the order of 1 MeV, compared
with a few eV for atomic energy levels.
• When a nucleus is placed in an excited state, either by
bombardment with high-energy particles or by a radioactive
transformation, it can decay to the ground state by emission of
one or more photons called gamma rays or gamma-ray
photons, with typical energies of 10 keV to 5 MeV.
• This process is called gamma (γ) decay.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

24

12
 12/15/22

Radioactive Decay
• Suppose you have a certain number
of nuclei of a particular radioactive
nuclide.
• If no more are produced, that number,
N(t), decreases exponentially in a
simple manner as the nuclei decay.
• The constant λ is called the decay
constant, and it has different values
for different nuclides.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

25

Radioactive Half-Life
• The half-life T1/ 2 is the time required for the number of
radioactive nuclei to decrease to one-half the original number
N0.
• Then half of the remaining radioactive nuclei decay during a
second interval T1/ 2 , and so on.
• The mean lifetime Tmean, generally called the lifetime, of an
unstable nucleus or particle is proportional to the half-life T1/ 2 :

• Video Tutor Solution: Example 43.8

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

26

13
 12/15/22

Radiation Dosimetry
• Radiation dosimetry is the quantitative description of the effect
of radiation on living tissue.
• The absorbed dose of radiation is defined as the energy
delivered to the tissue per unit mass.
• The SI unit of absorbed dose, the joule per kilogram, is called
the gray (Gy); 1 Gy = 1 J/kg.
• Another unit is the rad, defined as 1 rad = 0.01 J/kg = 0.01 Gy.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

27

Relative Biological Effectiveness

(RBE)
• Absorbed dose by itself is not an adequate measure of biological effect
because equal energies of different kinds of radiation cause different
extents of biological effect.
• This variation is described by a numerical factor called the relative
biological effectiveness (RBE), also called the quality factor (QF), of
each specific radiation.
• Table 43.3 shows approximate values of RBE for several radiations.
Radiation RBE (Sv/Gy or rem/rad)
X rays and gamma rays 1
Electrons 1.0–1.5
Slow neutrons 3–5
Protons 10
α particles 20

Heavy ions 20

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

28

14
 12/15/22

Doser (fortsättning)
• Ekvivalent dos (Sv) = RBE x Absorberad dos (Gy)
• Ekvivalent dos (rem) = RBE x Absorberad dos (rad)

• Helkroppsbestrålning ≤ 0,2 Sv inga direkta skador

• Kort helkroppsbestrålning > 10 Sv dödlig dos inom några dagar eller
veckor
• Kort partiell bestrålning > 100 Sv total destruktion

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

29

Biological Effects of Radiation

• The question of whether there is any
“safe” level of radiation exposure has
been hotly debated.
• In most countries, government
regulations are based on a maximum
yearly exposure, from all except
natural sources, of 2 to 5 mSv.
• To make a meaningful evaluation of
hazards, the figure shows an estimate
of the contribution of various sources
to the total average radiation exposure
in the world population, expressed as
percentages of the total.
Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

30

15
 12/15/22

Ytterligare material som vi inte gått

igenom (se läshänvisningarna)
• Dom följande bilderna mest för den intresserade…

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

31

Nuclear Reactions
• A nuclear reaction is a rearrangement of nuclear components due to
bombardment by a particle rather than a spontaneous natural process.
• The difference in masses before and after the reaction corresponds to
the reaction energy.

• If initial particles A and B interact to produce final particles C and D, the

reaction energy Q is defined as:

Q = ( M A + MB - Mc - MD ) c 2 ( reaction energy )

• When Q is positive, the total mass decreases and the total kinetic
energy increases. Such a reaction is called an exoergic reaction.
• When Q is negative, the mass increases and the kinetic energy
decreases, and the reaction is called an endoergic reaction.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

32

16
 12/15/22

Nuclear Fission
• Nuclear fission is a decay
process in which an unstable
nucleus splits into two
fragments (the fission
fragments) of comparable
mass.
• Shown is the mass distribution
of the fission fragments from
236
U* .

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

33

A Liquid-Drop Model of Fission

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

34

17
 12/15/22

Liquid-Drop Model
• Shown is a hypothetical
potential-energy function
for two fission fragments in
a fissionable nucleus.
• At distances r beyond the
range of the nuclear force,
the potential energy varies
approximately as 1 .
r

• Fission occurs if there is an excitation energy greater than

UB or an appreciable probability for tunneling through the
potential-energy barrier.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

35

Chain Reactions
• Fission of a uranium nucleus,
triggered by neutron
bombardment, releases other
neutrons that can trigger
more fissions, suggesting the
possibility of a chain
reaction (shown).
• The chain reaction may be
made to proceed slowly and
in a controlled manner in a
nuclear reactor or explosively
in a bomb.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

36

18
 12/15/22

Schematic Diagram of a Nuclear

Power Plant

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

37

Nuclear Fusion
• In a nuclear fusion reaction, two or more small light nuclei
come together, or fuse, to form a larger nucleus.
• Fusion reactions release energy for the same reason as
fission reactions: the binding energy per nucleon after the
reaction is greater than before.
• The figure below illustrates the proton-proton chain, which
is the main energy source in our sun.

Copyright © 2020 Pearson Education, Ltd. All Rights Reserved

38

19