Radioactivity

9702/Physics/H1
 Families of Particles
• Today, sub atomic particles are divided into two families:
1. Hadrons :- These are the particles that are affected by the
strong nuclear force, e.g. protons and neutrons.
• The word ‘hadron’ is a Greek word meaning ‘bulky’ (in
mass).
2. Leptons :- These are the particles which are not affected
by the strong nuclear force, such as electrons and neutrino.
• The word ‘lepton’ is a Greek word meaning ‘light’ (in mass).
 Inside Hadrons
• To sort out the complicated picture
of hadron family of particles,
Murrey Gell-mann in 1964
proposed a new model.
• He suggested that they were made
up of just a few different particles,
which he called ‘quarks’
• Fig. shows icons used to present
three quarks, charges on them,
together with the corresponding
anti-quarks and their charges.
 Inside Hadrons
• These are called up (u), down (d) and strange (s)
quarks.
• Anti-quarks are shown by a ‘bar’ on the top of the
letter for the quark.
• Antiquarks are needed to account for the existence of
antimatter.
• This is matter made of antiparticles; when a particle
meets its anti particle, they annihilate each other ,
leaving only photons of energy.
• There are two types of hadrons:
1. Baryons, made up of three quarks such as protons
and neutrons.
2. Mesons, made up of two quarks such as phi and pi+.
• In both the above cases, quarks are held
together by the strong nuclear force.
• Quarks of a proton along with their charges are:
(uud)….+2/3 e, + 2/3 e and -1/3 e.
• Quarks of a neutron along with their charges
are:
(udd)….+2/3 e, - 1/3 e and -1/3 e.
• Quarks of a pi+ meson along with their charges
are:
(ud)….+2/3 e, and +1/3 e.
• Quarks of a phi meson along with their charges
are:
(ss)…. -1/3 e, and +1/3 e.
Past Paper Questions

b
 ?

a
 a

b
a
 Forces in the Nucleus
• There are two kinds of particles in the nucleus of an atom: protons, which each carries positive
charge +e; and neutrons which are uncharged.
• It is therefore quite surprising that the nucleus holds together at all. You would expect that the
electrostatic force of repulsion between all positively charged protons will blow it apart.
• The fact that this does not happen is a very good evidence for the existence of an attractive force
between the nucleons.
• This force is called the strong nuclear force. It only acts over very short distance (10-14 m), and it is
what holds the nucleus together.
• The nucleus is held together by the strong nuclear force, acting against the repulsive electrostatic or
Coulomb’s force between protons. This force explains alpha decay.
• Strong nuclear force cannot explain beta-decay, instead we have to take account of a further force
within the nucleus, the weak interaction, also known as the weak nuclear force. This is the force
that acts on both quarks and leptons. The weak interaction (weak nuclear force) is responsible for
beta-decay.
 Diluting Protons
• In small nuclei the strong nuclear force from all the nucleons reaches most of
the others in the nucleus, but as we go on adding protons and neutrons the
balance becomes much finer.
• The longer range electrostatic force affects the whole nucleus, but the short-
range strong nuclear force of any particular nucleon only affects those
nucleons around it- the rest of the nucleus is unaffected.
• In a large nucleus the nucleons are not held together so tightly, and this makes
the nucleus unstable.
• The more protons there are in a nucleus, the greater the electric forces
between them, and we need a few extra neutrons to help ‘ keep the protons
apart’. This is why heavy nuclei have more neutrons than protons.
 Some commonly Occurring
Isotopes
• Elements with proton no. more
than 83 are all unstable, they
undergo radioactive decay.
• Whether or not an atom is unstable
depends on the number of protons
and neutrons in its nucleus.
• For example, helium-4 is a stable
nucleus, but adding one neutron in
it makes it helium-5, a very
unstable nucleus, it undergoes
radioactive emission.
 Discovering Neutrinos
• When beta-decay was first studied, it was realised that beta-particles were electrons
coming from the nucleus of an atom. But there are no electrons present in the nucleus,
they orbit around nucleus.
• The process was pictured as the decay of a neutron to give a proton and an electron.
• It was noticed that beta-particles were emitted with a range of speeds-some travelled
more slowly than others. It was deduced that some other particle must be carrying off
some of the energy and momentum released in the decay.
• This particle is known as the antineutrino (or more correctly, the electron antineutrino ),
with symbol v.
• beta-minus decay: 0n1 1p + -1e + v
1 0

• Neutrinos have very little mass (much less than an electron), and no electric charge,
which makes them very difficult to detect.
 Discovering Neutrinos
• In beta-plus decay, a proton decays to become a neutron and a positive beta
particle, positron e+ .
• It was noticed, these positrons were emitted with a range of speeds-some
travelled more slowly than others. It was deduced that some other particle
must be carrying off some of the energy and momentum released in the
decay.
• This particle is known as the neutrino, with symbol v.
• beta-plus decay: 1p1 0 n1 + +1e0 + v

• In both the decays (beta-minus and plus), nucleon number A is conserved;

that is, there are as many nucleon after the decay as there were before.
 Conservation of A and Z
• In beta-minus decay, a neutron has become a proton so that the total number of
nucleons is unchanged. In beta-plus decay, a proton has become a neutron so that
the total number of nucleons is unchanged. So A is conserved.
• Proton no. Z is also conserved. In beta-minus decay, we start with a neutron (Z = 0).
After the decay, we have a proton (Z = +1) and a beta-minus particle (Z= -1).
Together these have Z = 1-1 = 0. So Z remains conserved before and after the decay.
• Similar analysis shows that Z is conserved in beta-plus decay.
• The conservation of nucleon number and proton number are important laws in
Physics. They apply to all nuclear changes, not just to alpha or beta decay.
• There is a third quantity that is conserved, you might expect mass to be conserved
but in a nuclear process, the mass-energy is conserved.
 Changes in Quark Composition
• Consider first beta-minus decay, in which a neutron decays. A
neutron consists of three quarks (udd). It decays to a proton
(uud). Comparing these shows that one of down quarks has
become an up quark.
d u + -1e0 + v
• In beta-plus decay, in which a proton decays. A proton consists of
three quarks (uud). It decays to a neutron (udd). Comparing these
shows that one of up quarks has become an down quark.
u d + +1e0 + v
 Past Paper Questions

• Ans. b
 d

a
c