Al-Mustansiriyah University Fourth Grade

College of Science Nuclear Structure

Physics Department Dr. Waleed Jabbar Mhana
Dr. Hanaa Salih Sabaa

Chapter Four
(Nuclear Radiation)
(4-1) Nuclear Radiation
Whenever a nucleus can attain a more stable (i.e., more tightly bound)
configuration by emitting radiation, a spontaneous disintegration process
known as radioactive decay or nuclear decay may occur. In practice, this
"radiation" may be electromagnetic radiation, particles, or both.
Detailed studies of radioactive decay and nuclear reaction processes
have led to the formulation of useful conservation principles. The four
principles of most interest in this module are discussed below.
1. Conservation of electric charge implies that charges are neither created
nor destroyed. Single positive and negative charges may, however,
neutralize each other. It is also possible for a neutral particle to produce
one charge of each sign.
2. Conservation of mass number does not allow a net change in the number
of nucleons. However, the conversion of a proton to a neutron and vice
versa is allowed.
3. Conservation of mass and energy implies that the total of the kinetic
energy and the energy equivalent of the mass in a system must be
conserved in all decays and reactions. Mass can be converted to energy
and energy can be converted to mass, but the sum of mass and energy
must be constant.

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4. Conservation of momentum is responsible for the distribution of the
available kinetic energy among product nuclei, particles, and/or
radiation. The total amount is the same before and after the reaction
even though it may be distributed differently among entirely different
nuclides and/or particles.

Alpha Decay (α)

Alpha decay is the emission of alpha particles (helium nuclei) which
may be represented as either 42 He or 42  . When an unstable nucleus ejects an
alpha particle, the atomic number is reduced by 2 and the mass number
decreased by 4. An example is Uranium-234 which decays by the ejection of
an alpha particle accompanied by the emission of a 0.068 MeV gamma.

The combined kinetic energy of the daughter nucleus (Thorium-230)

and the α particle is designated as KE. The sum of the KE and the gamma
energy is equal to the difference in mass between the original nucleus
(Uranium-234) and the final particles (equivalent to the binding energy
released, since Δm=BE). The alpha particle will carry off as much as 98% of
the kinetic energy and, in most cases, can be considered to carry off all the
kinetic energy.

Beta Decay (β)

Beta decay is the emission of electrons of nuclear rather than orbital
origin. These particles are electrons that have been expelled by excited
nuclei and may have a charge of either sign.

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 If both energy and momentum are to be conserved, a third type of
particle, the neutrino (ν) , must be involved. The neutrino is associated with
positive electron emission, and its antiparticle, the antineutrino ( ) , is
emitted with a negative electron. These uncharged particles have only the
weakest interaction with matter, no mass, and travel at the speed of light.
For all practical purposes, they pass through all materials with so few
interactions that the energy they possess cannot be recovered. The neutrinos
and antineutrinos are included here only because they carry a portion of the
kinetic energy that would otherwise belong to the beta particle, and
therefore, must be considered for energy and momentum to be conserved.
They are normally ignored since they are not significant in the context of
nuclear reactor applications.
Negative electron emission, represented as 0
1 e, 0
1  or simply as e- or
β-, effectively converts a neutron to a proton, thus increasing the atomic
number by one and leaving the mass number unchanged. This is a common
mode of decay for nuclei with an excess of neutrons, such as fission
fragments below and to the right of the neutron-proton stability curve. An
example of a typical beta minus-decay reaction is shown below.

Positively charged electrons (beta-plus) are known as positrons.

Except for sign, they are nearly identical to their negatively charged cousins.
When a positron, represented as 0
1 e, 0
1  or simply as e+ or β+, is ejected
from the nucleus, the atomic number is decreased by one and the mass
number remains unchanged. A proton has been converted to a neutron. An
example of a typical positron (beta-plus) decay is shown below.

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Gamma Emission (γ)
Gamma radiation is a high-energy electromagnetic radiation that
originates in the nucleus. It is emitted in the form of photons, discrete
bundles of energy that have both wave and particle properties. Often a
daughter nuclide is left in an excited state after a radioactive parent nucleus
undergoes a transformation by alpha decay, beta decay, or electron capture.
The nucleus will drop to the ground state by the emission of gamma
radiation.

Electron Capture (EC, K-capture)

Nuclei having an excess of protons may capture an electron from one
of the inner orbits which immediately combines with a proton in the nucleus
to form a neutron. This process is called electron capture (EC). The electron
is normally captured from the innermost orbit (the K-shell), and
consequently, this process is sometimes called K-capture. The following
example depicts electron capture.

A neutrino is formed at the same time that the neutron is formed, and
energy carried off by it serves to conserve momentum. Any energy that is
available due to the atomic mass of the product being appreciably less than
that of the parent will appear as gamma radiation. Also, there will always be

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characteristic x-rays given off when an electron from one of the higher
energy shells moves in to fill the vacancy in the K-shell. Electron capture is
shown graphically in Figure (4-1).
Electron capture and positron emission result in the production of the
same daughter product, and they exist as competing processes. For positron
emission to occur, however, the mass of the daughter product must be less
than the mass of the parent by an amount equal to at least twice the mass of
an electron. This mass difference between the parent and daughter is
necessary to account for two items present in the parent but not in the
daughter. One item is the positron ejected from the nucleus of the parent.
The other item is that the daughter product has one less orbital electron than
the parent. If this requirement is not met, then orbital electron capture takes
place exclusively.

Figure (4-1): Orbital electron capture.

Internal Conversion
The usual method for an excited nucleus to go from the excited state
to the ground state is by emission of gamma radiation. However, in some
cases the gamma ray (photon) emerges from the nucleus only to interact

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with one of the innermost orbital electrons and, as a result, the energy of the
photon is transferred to the electron. The gamma ray is then said to have
undergone internal conversion. The conversion electron is ejected from the
atom with kinetic energy equal to the gamma energy minus the binding
energy of the orbital electron. An orbital electron then drops to a lower
energy state to fill the vacancy, and this is accompanied by the emission of
characteristic x-rays.

Isomers and Isomeric Transition

Isomeric transition commonly occurs immediately after particle
emission; however, the nucleus may remain in an excited state for a
measurable period of time before dropping to the ground state at its own
characteristic rate. A nucleus that remains in such an excited state is known
as a nuclear isomer because it differs in energy and behavior from other
nuclei with the same atomic number and mass number. The decay of an
excited nuclear isomer to a lower energy level is called an isomeric
transition. It is also possible for the excited isomer to decay by some
alternate means, for example, by beta emission.
An example of gamma emission accompanying particle emission is
illustrated by the decay of nitrogen-16 below.

Another example of this type of decay is that of technetium-99m ,

which by the way is the most common radioisotope used for diagnostic
purposes today in medicine. The reaction can be expressed as:

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99 m
Tc9943Tc  
43

Here a nucleus of technetium-99 is in an excited state that is it has excess

energy. The excited state in this case is called a metastable state and the
nucleus is therefore called technetium-99m (m for metastable). The excited
nucleus loses its excess energy by emitting a gamma-ray to become
technetium-99.

Spontaneous Fission
This is a very destructive process which occurs in some heavy nuclei
which split into 2 or 3 fragments plus some neutrons. These fragments form
new nuclei which are usually radioactive. Nuclear reactors exploit this
phenomenon for the production of radioisotopes. It's also used for nuclear
power generation and in nuclear weaponry. The process is not of great
interest to us here and we will say no more about it for the time being.

Decay Schemes

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 Decay schemes are widely used to give a visual representation of
radioactive decay. The general method used for decay schemes is illustrated
in the diagram below:

The energy is plotted on the vertical axis and atomic number on the
horizontal axis-although these axes are rarely displayed in actual schemes.
The isotope from which the scheme originates is displayed at the top - X in
the case above. This isotope is referred to as the parent. The parent loses
energy when it decays and hence the products of the decay referred to as
daughters are plotted at a lower energy level.
The diagram illustrates the situation for common forms of radioactive
decay. Alpha-decay is illustrated on the left where the mass number is
reduced by 4 and the atomic number is reduced by 2 to produce daughter A.
To its right the scheme for beta-plus decay is shown to produce daughter B.
The situation for beta-minus decay followed by gamma-decay is shown on
the right side of the diagram where daughters C and D respectively are
produced.

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 For example, a scheme for a more complicated decay is that of
caesium-137: This isotope can decay through two beta-minus processes. In
one which occurs in 5% of disintegrations a beta-minus particle is emitted
with energy of 1.17MeV to produce barium-137. In the second, which
occurs more frequently (in the remaining 95% of disintegrations) a beta-
minus particle of energy 0.51MeV is emitted to produce barium-137m, in
other words a barium-137 nucleus in a metastable state. The barium-137m
then decays via isomeric transition with the emission of a gamma-ray of
energy 0.662MeV.

Decay Chains
When an unstable nucleus decays, the resulting daughter nucleus is
not necessarily stable. The nucleus resulting from the decay of a parent is
often itself unstable, and will undergo an additional decay. This is
especially common among the larger nuclides.
It is possible to trace the steps of an unstable atom as it goes through
multiple decays trying to achieve stability. The list of the original unstable
nuclide, the nuclides that are involved as intermediate steps in the decay, and
the final stable nuclide is known as the decay chain. One common method
for stating the decay chain is to state each of the nuclides involved in the

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 A
standard Z X format. Arrows are used between nuclides to indicate where
decays occur, with the type of decay indicated above the arrow and the half-
life below the arrow. The half-life for decay will be discussed in the next
chapter.

Example:
Write the decay chains for rubidium-91 and actinium-215. Continue
the chains until a stable nuclide or a nuclide with a half-life greater than
1x106 years is reached.
Solution:

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