Nuclear Physics Edexcel Notes 2

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Decay Laws

Modeling radioactivity using dice


Use 100 dice in this experiment. Consider the dice which shows 1 as decayed
atom. Probability of getting 1 is 1/6
Time Number Present(N) Number decayed Number Remaining
1 100 100/6= 17 83

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Graph of number present vs time Graph of number decayed vs time

number remaining vs time.

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Exponential decay equations

Exponential decay graph is as follows.

Exponential equations are


Equation for number remaining after n half lives

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Questions
1. a Define the half-life of a radioactive isotope. [1]
b The half-life of a particular isotope is 20 minutes. A sample initially contains N0 nuclei
of this isotope. Determine the number of nuclei of the isotope left in the sample after:
i 20 minutes [1]
ii 1.0 hour. [2]
2. The activity of an α-source is 540 Bq. The kinetic energy of each α-particle is 8.6 × 10 −14 J.
The isotope in the source has a very long half-life.
a Calculate the number of α-particles emitted by the source in:
i 1 second [1]
ii 1 hour. [1]
b Determine the total energy released by the source in a time of 1 second. [3]
c State the rate at which energy is emitted from this α-source. [1]
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3. The half-life of the radon isotope 86 Rn is 56 s.

a Determine the decay constant in s−1. [3]


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b Calculate the activity of a sample containing 6.0  1010 nuclei of 86 Rn . [3]
4. The activity of a radioactive source containing 8.0  1014 undecayed nuclei is 5.0  109 Bq.
a Determine the decay constant in s−1. [3]
b Calculate the half-life of the nucleus. [3]
c How many undecayed nuclei will be left after 40 hours? [3]
5. a Define the decay constant of a nucleus. [1]
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b The thorium isotope 90 Th has a half-life of 18 days.
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A particular radioactive source contains 4.0  1012 nuclei of the isotope 90 Th .
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i Determine the decay constant for the thorium isotope 90 Th in s−1. [3]
ii What is the initial activity of the source? [3]
iii Calculate the activity of the source after 36 days. [2]
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6. A sample of rock is known to contain 1.0 μg of the radioactive radium isotope 88 Ra .
The half-life of this particular isotope is 1600 years. The molar mass of radium-226 is 226 g.
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a Determine the number of nuclei of the isotope 88 Ra in the rock sample. [2]
b Calculate the activity from decay of the radium-226 in the sample. [3]
7. Some astronomers believe that our solar system was formed 5.0 × 10 9 years ago.
Assuming that all uranium-238 nuclei were formed before this time, what fraction of the
original uranium-238 nuclei remain in the solar system today? The isotope of uranium
238
92 U has a half-life of 4.5  109 y. [4]

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