Radioactive Decay Questions 1. What is radiation? 2. How is radiation detected?
ID: 116770 • Letter: R
Question
Radioactive Decay Questions 1. What is radiation? 2. How is radiation detected? 3. What happens to the ratio between protons and neutrons between smalle atoms and larger atoms? 4. Why does a large nucleus lose neutrons? 5. What is alpha decay and what charge and mass does it have? 6. What is beta decay and what charge and mass does it have? 7. What is gamma radiation and what charge and mass does it have? 8. What type of radiation does U-238 undergo? What does it lose? 9. Why does U-238 become Th-234? 10.Why does Cs-137 become Ba-137? 11.Why does Na-11 become Ne-12?Explanation / Answer
radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles .In context of earth sciences . A stream of particles or electromagnetic waves that is emitted by the atoms and molecules of a radioactive substance as a result of nuclear decay.
2.Particle detectors, also called radiation detectors, are instruments designed for the detection and measurement of subatomic particles such as those emitted by radioactive materials, produced by particle accelerators or observed in cosmic rays. Such particles include electrons, protons, neutrons, alpha particles, gamma rays, and numerous mesons and baryons. Most detectors utilize in some way the ionization produced when these particles interact with matter .some of the example are Geiger counter,Scintillation detector,Solid state detectors,Neutron detectors,Cerenkov detectors etc.
3.The neutron–proton ratio (N/Z ratio or nuclear ratio) of an atomic nucleus is the ratio of its number of neutrons to its number of protons. Among stable nuclei and naturally occurring nuclei, this ratio generally increases with increasing atomic number. This is because electrical repulsive forces between protons scale with distance differently than strong nuclear force attractions. In particular, most pairs of protons in large nuclei are far enough apart that electrical repulsion dominates over the strong nuclear force, and thus proton density in stable larger nuclei must be lower than in stable smaller nuclei where more pairs of protons have appreciable short-range nuclear force attractions.
4.In large nucleus the neutron -proton ratio become greater than 1:1.As the nucleus gets bigger, the electrostatic repulsions between the protons gets weaker.The nuclear strong force is about 100 times as strong as the electrostatic repulsions.It operates over only short distances.After a certain size, the strong force is not able to hold the nucleus together.Adding extra neutrons increases the space between the protons.This decreases their repulsions but, if there are too many neutrons, the nucleus is again out of balance and decays.
5. -decay is a type of radioactive decay in which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle (helium nucleus) and thereby transforms or 'decays' into an atom with
a mass number that is reduced by 4
and an atomic number that is reduced by 2
6.
Beta decay is one process that unstable atoms can use to become more stable. When a beta particle is emitted from the nucleus the nucleus has one more proton and one less neutron. This means the atomic mass number remains unchanged and the atomic number increases by 1.
7.Gamma radiation are electromagnetic waves of very short wavelength and high frequency. Gamma rays are emitted by most radioactive sources along with alpha or beta particles. After alpha or beta emission the remaining nucleus may still be in an excited energy state. ... Gamma rays have no electrical charge associated with them and mass is 0.
Related Questions
Navigate
Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.