PHY 310

Chapter 9:
NUCLEAR REACTION

Prepared By:
Mohd Ashmir Yahya(MAY)
 Nuclear reaction
• Is the process whereby the structure of nuclei is changed
after bombardment with energetic particles.

• Energy is absorbed or released during a nuclear reaction.

• Rutherford was the first to observe nuclear reaction by

colliding alpha particle with nitrogen atom.
4
2 He  147 N  178 O  11H

• Chadwick discovered neutron by bombarding alpha

particle with beryllium atom.
4
2 He  94 Be  126 C  01n
• Cockcroft and Walton produced nuclear reaction by
bombarding hydrogen with light element such as lithium.
7
3 Li  11H  42 He  42 He
• In nuclear reactions, the total atomic no. and total mass no.
must always be equal or balanced on both sides of the
equation.

• Sometimes a nuclear reaction involves a series of decay

such as below.
1
0 n 238
92 U  239
92 U γ
239
92 U  239
93 Np 10e
239
93 Np  239
94 Pu 10e
 Reaction Energy (Q)
• Energy is released (liberated) in a nuclear reaction in the
form of kinetic energy of the particle emitted, the kinetic
energy of the daughter nucleus and the energy of the
gamma-ray photon that may accompany the reaction.

• The energy is called the reaction OR disintegration

energy (Q).

• It may be calculated by finding the mass defect of the

reaction where:

Mass defect   before

mass of nucleus
reaction
- mass of nucleus
products after reaction

m  mi  m f (9.1)
 Reaction Energy (Q)
• The reaction energy, Q is the energy equivalent to the mass
defect Δm of the reaction, thus:

Q  (m)c 2 (9.2)

Note:

If the value of Δm OR Q is positive:

-the reaction is called exothermic in which the energy
released in the form the kinetic energy of the product.

If the value of Δm OR Q is negative:

- the reaction is called endothermic in which the energy
need to be absorbed for the reaction occurred.
 Radioactivity decay

• is defined as the phenomenon in which an unstable

nucleus disintegrates to acquire a more stable nucleus
without absorb an external energy.

• The disintegration is spontaneous and most commonly

involves the emission of an alpha particle( α OR 42 He) , a beta
particle(  OR -01e) and gamma-ray(  OR 00 ) . I also release an
energy Q known as disintegration energy.
 Exercise 1
Polonium nucleus decays by alpha emission to lead nucleus can
be represented by the equation below:
212
84 Po208
82 Pb 2 He  Q
4

Calculate:
a. The energy Q released in MeV.
b. The wavelength of the gamma-ray produced.
(Given mass of Po-212=211.98885 u; mass of Pb-208=207.97664 u
and mass of α particle = 4.0026 u)
Solution:
 Exercise 2
A nickel - 66 nucleus( 66
28 Ni) decays to a new nucleus by emitting
a beta particle.
a. Write an equationto represent the nuclear reaction.
b. If the new nuclues foundin part(a) has the atomic mass
of 65.9284 u and the atomic mass for nickel - 66 is 65.9291 u,
what is the maximum kinetic energy of the emittedelectron?
(Given mass of electron,me  5.49  10 4 u and c  3.00  10 8 ms1 )
Solution:
 Bombardment with energetic particles

• is defined as an induced nuclear reaction that does not

occur spontaneously, it is caused by a collision
between a nucleus and an energetic particles such as
proton, neutron, alpha or photon. nucleus and an
energetic particles such as proton, neutron,

• Consider a bombardment reaction in which a target nucleus

X is bombarded by a particle x, resulting in a daughter
nucleus Y, an emitted particle y and reaction energy Q:

X x  y  Y Q
• The calculation of reaction energy Q has been discussed in
section before.
Bombardment with energetic particles
• Examples of bombardment reaction:
14
7 N 42 He178 O11H  Q OR 14
7 N( , p)178 O
7
3 Li11H 242 He  Q OR 7
3 Li(p, )24 He
 Exercise 3
14 17
A nitrogen nucleus 7 N is converted into an oxygennucl eus 8 O
and a proton if it is bombarded by an alpha particle carrying certain
amount of energy.
a. Write down an expression for this nucleon reaction, showing the
atomic number and the mass number of each nuclide and
particle emitted.
b. Calculate the minimum energy of the alpha particle for this reaction
to take place.
(Given m p  0.16735  10 -26 kg, m α  0.66466  10 26 kg;
mass of nitrogen nucleus, m N  2.32530  10  26 kg; mass of
oxygen nucleus, m o  2.82282  10  26 kg; c  3.00  10 8 ms 1 )
Solution:
 Nuclear fission

• is defined as a nuclear reaction in which a heavy nucleus

splits into two lighter nuclei that are almost equal in mass
with the emission of neutrons and energy.

• Nuclear fission releases an amount of energy that is

greater than the energy released in chemical reaction.

• Energy is released because the average binding energy per

nucleon of the fission products is greater than that of the
parent.
 Nuclear fission
• It can be divided into two types:

 spontaneous fission – very rarely occur.

induced fission – bombarding a heavy nucleus with slow

neutrons or thermal neutrons of low energy (about 10-2 eV).
This type of fission is the important process in the
energy production

• For example, consider the bombardment of 235

92 U by slow
neutrons. One of the possible reaction is:
235
92 U 01 n  236
92 U *
 85
35 Br  148
57 La 3 0n Q
1

Nucleus in the excited state

 Nuclear fission
• The reaction can also be represented by the diagram in
Figure 9.1.

1
0 n
85
35 Br
1
1 0 n
0 n 235
92 U 236 *
1
n
92 U 0

Figure 9.1 148

57 La
• Other possible reactions are:
235
92 U 01 n  236
92 U *
 89
36 Kr 144
56 Ba 3 0n Q
1
 Exercise 4
Calculate the energy released in MeV when 20 kg of uranium-235
undergoes fission according to
235
92 U 01 n  89
36 Kr 144
56 Ba 3 0n Q
1

(Given:mass of U-235 =235.04393 u,

mass of neutron =1.00867 u,
mass of Kr-89 =88.91756 u,
mass of Ba-144 =143.92273 u and
NA =6.02×1023 mol-2 )
Solution:
 Chain Reaction
• is defined as a nuclear reaction that is self- sustaining as
a result of the products of one fission reaction initiating
a subsequent fission reaction.

• Figure 9.3 shows a schematic diagram of the chain reaction.

Figure 9.3
 Chain Reaction
• From Figure 9.3, one neutron initially causes one fission of a
uranium-235 nucleus, the two or three neutrons released can go
on to cause additional fissions, so the process multiples.

• This reaction obviously occurred in nuclear reactor.

• Conditions to achieve chain reaction in a nuclear reactor :

 Slow neutrons are better at causing fission –

so uranium are mixed with a material that does not absorb
neutrons but slows them down.
 Chain Reaction

The fissile material must has a critical size which is

defined as the minimum mass of fissile material that will
sustain a nuclear chain reaction where the number of
neutrons produced in fission reactions should balance
the number of neutron escape from the reactor core.

• The uncontrolled chain reactions

are used in nuclear weapons
– atomic bomb (Figure 9.4).

Figure 9.4
 Chain Reaction
• The controlled chain reactions take place in nuclear reactors
(Figure 9.5) and release energy at a steady rate.

Figure 9.5
 Nuclear fusion

• is defined as a type of nuclear reaction in which two light

nuclei fuse to form a heavier nucleus with the release of
large amounts of energy.

• The energy released in this reaction is called thermonuclear

energy.

• Examples of fusion reaction releases the energy are:

2
1 H 21 H 23 He  01 n  Q
2
1 H 21 H23 H11 H  Q
 Nuclear fusion
The two reacting nuclei in fusion reaction above
themselves have to be brought into collision.

As both nuclei are positively charged there is a strong

repulsive force between them, which can only be overcome if
the reacting nuclei have very high kinetic energies.

These high kinetic energies imply temperatures of the

order of 108 K.

At these elevated temperatures, fusion reactions are self

sustaining and the reactants are in form of a plasma (i.e.
nuclei and free electron) with the nuclei possessing sufficient
energy to overcome electrostatic repulsion forces.
 Nuclear fusion
• The nuclear fusion reaction can occur in fusion bomb and in
the core of a star.

• Deuterium-tritium fusion is other example of fusion reaction

where it can be represented by the diagram in Figure 9.6.

2
1 H 31 H 42 He  01 n  Q
Figure 9.6
 Exercise 5
A fusion reaction is represented by the equation below:
2
1 H 21 H31 H11 H

Calculate:
a. the energy in MeV released from this fusion reaction,
b. the energy released from fusion of 1.0 kg deuterium,

(Given mass of proton =1.007825 u,

mass of tritium =3.016049 u and
mass of deuterium =2.014102 u)
Solution:
 Nuclear fusion in the sun
• The sun is a small star which generates energy on its own by
means of nuclear fusion in its interior.

• The fuel of fusion reaction comes from the protons available

in the sun.

• The protons undergo a set of fusion reactions, producing

isotopes of hydrogen and also isotopes of helium. However,
the helium nuclei themselves undergo nuclear reactions
which produce protons again. This means that the protons
go through a cycle which is then repeated. Because of this
proton-proton cycle, nuclear fusion in the sun can be self
sustaining.

• The set of fusion reactions in the proton-proton cycle can be

illustrated by Figure 9.7.
 Nuclear fusion in the sun

Figure 9.7

• The amount of energy released per cycle is about 25 MeV.

• Nuclear fusion occurs in the interior of the sun because the

temperature of the sun is very high (approximately 1.5 x 107 K).
 Comparison between fission and fusion
• Table 9.2 shows the differences between fission and fusion
reaction.
Table 9.2

• The similarity between the fission and fusion reactions

is both reactions produces energy.
THE END