ATOM AND NUCLEI

Physics By:
ASSERTION AND REASONING TYPE
HITEN PARMAR ATOM AND NUCLEI
7737003227; 7891333227

Read the assertion and reason carefully to mark the correct option out of the options given
below :
(a) If both assertion and reason are true and the reason is the correct explanation of the
assertion.
(b) If both assertion and reason are true but reason is not the correct explanation of the
assertion.
(c) If assertion is true but reason is false.
(d) If the assertion and reason both are false.
(e) If assertion is false but reason is true.

1. Assertion :It is not possible to use 35 Cl as the fuel for fusion energy.
Reason : The binding energy of 35 Cl is too small.
90
2. Assertion : Sr from the radioactive fall out from a nuclear bomb ends up in the
bones of human beings through the milk consumed by them. It causes
impairment of the production of red blood cells.
Reason :The energetics -particles emitted in the decay of 90 Sr damage the bone
marrow.
3. Assertion :Neutrons penetrate matter more readily as compared to protons.
Reason :Neutrons are slightly more massive than protons.
4. Assertion :Bohr had to postulate that the electrons in stationary orbits around the
nucleus do not radiate.
Reason :According to classical physics all moving electrons radiate.
5. Assertion :Radioactive nuclei emit  1 particles.
Reason :Electrons exist inside the nucleus.
6. Assertion : Z X A undergoes 2  decays. 2   decays and 2  decays and the daughter
product is Z  2 Y A  8 .
Reason :In -decay the mass number decreases by 4 and atomic number decreases
by 2. In - decay the mass number remains unchanged, but atomic number
increases by 1 only.
7. Assertion :Density of all the nuclei is same.
Reason :Radius of nucleus is directly proportional to the cube root of mass number.
8. Assertion :Isobars are the element having same mass number but different atomic
number.
Reason :Neutrons and protons are present inside nucleus.
9. Assertion :The force of repulsion between atomic nucleus and -particle varies with
distance according to inverse square law.
Reason :Rutherford did -particle scattering experiment.
10. Assertion :The positively charged nucleus of an atom has a radius of almost 10 15 m.
Reason :In -particle scattering experiment, the distance of closest approach for -
particles is ≃ 10 15 m.
11. Assertion :According to classical theory, the proposed path of an electron in
Rutherford atom model will be parabolic.
Reason :According to electromagnetic theory an accelerated particle continuously
emits radiation.
12. Assertion :Electrons in the atom are held due to coulomb forces.
Reason :The atom is stable only because the centripetal force due to Coulomb’s law
is balanced by the centrifugal force.
13. Assertion :The electron in the hydrogen atom passes from energy level n  4 to the n  1
level. The maximum and minimum number of photon that can be emitted are
six and one respectively.

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 ATOM AND NUCLEI

Reason :The photons are emitted when electron make a transition from the higher
energy state to the lower energy state.
14. Assertion :Hydrogen atom consists of only one electron but its emission spectrum has
many lines.
Reason :Only Lyman series is found in the absorption spectrum of hydrogen atom
whereas in the emission spectrum, all the series are found.
15. Assertion :It is essential that all the lines available in the emission spectrum will also
be available in the absorption spectrum.
Reason :The spectrum of hydrogen atom is only absorption spectrum.
16. Assertion :For the scattering of -particles at a large angles, only the nucleus of the
atom is responsible.
Reason :Nucleus is very heavy in comparison to electrons.
17. Assertion :All the radioactive elements are ultimately converted in lead.
Reason :All the elements above lead are unstable.
18. Assertion :Amongst alpha, beta and gamma rays, -particle has maximum penetrating
power.
Reason :The alpha particle is heavier than beta and gamma rays.
19. Assertion :The ionising power of -particle is less compared to -particles but their
penetrating power is more.
Reason :The mass of -particle is less than the mass of -particle.
20. Assertion :The mass of -particles when they are emitted is higher than the mass of
electrons obtained by other means.
Reason :-particle and electron, both are similar particles.
21. Assertion :Radioactivity of 10 8 undecayed radioactive nuclei of half life of 50 days is
equal to that of 1.2  10 8 number of undecayed nuclei of some other material
with half life of 60 days
Reason :Radioactivity is proportional to half-life.
22. Assertion :Fragments produced in the fission of U 235 are radioactive.
Reason :The fragments have abnormally high proton to neutron ratio.
23. Assertion :Electron capture occurs more often than positron emission in heavy
elements.
Reason :Heavy elements exhibit radioactivity.
24. Assertion :The mass of a nucleus can be either less than or more than the sum of the
masses of nucleons present in it.
Reason :The whole mass of the atom is considered in the nucleus.

1 c 2 a 3 b 4 b 5 c
6 a 7 a 8 b 9 b 10 a
11 e 12 c 13 b 14 b 15 d
16 a 17 c 18 d 19 b 20 b
21 c 22 c 23 b 24 e

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 ATOM AND NUCLEI

SOLUTION
35 35
1. (c) In fusion, lighter nuclei are used so, fusion is not possible with Cl. Also binding energy of Cl is not
too small.
by the emission of   rays. Sr gets absorbed in bones along with calcium.
90 90
2. (a) 38 Sr decays to 39 Y


Y which emits   rays of very high energy. Sr does not emit   rays.
90
Reason is also true. 90
Sr 
The damage is by the   rays only.
3. (b) Neutron is about 0.1 more massive than proton. But the unique thing about the neutron is that while it
is heavy, it has no charge (it is neutral). This lack of charge gives it the ability to penetrate matter
without interacting as quickly as the beta particles or alpha particles.
4. (b) Bohr postulated that electrons in stationary orbits around the nucleus do not radiate.
This is the one of Bohr’s postulate. According to this the moving electrons radiate only when they go
from one orbit to the next lower orbit.
5. (c) Nuclear stability depends upon the ratio of neutron to proton. If the n / p ratio is more than the critical
value, then a neutron gets converted into a proton forming a   particle in the process. n  p  e 
The   particle (e  ) is emitted from the nucleus in some radioactive transformation. So electrons do not
exist in the nucleus but they result in some nuclear transformation.
6. (a) ZX
A
 2(2 He 4 )  2(1 e 0 )  2  z  2 X A  8
7. (a) Experimentally, it is found that the average radius of a nucleus is given by
R  R0 A1 / 3 where R0  1.1  10 15 m  1.1 fm
and A  mass number
8. (b)
9. (b) Rutherford confirmed the repulsive force on -particle due to nucleus varies with distance according to
inverse square law and that the positive charges are concentrated at the centre and not distributed
throughout the atom.
10. (a) In -particle scattering experiment, Rutherford found a small number of -particles which were
scattered back through an angle approaching to 180 . This is possible only if the positive charges are
concentrated at the centre or nucleus of the atom.
11. (e) According to classical electromagnetic theory, an accelerated charge continuously emits radiation. As
electrons revolving in circular paths are constantly experiencing centripetal acceleration, hence they will
be losing their energy continuously and the orbital radius will go on decreasing and form spiral and
finally the electron will fall on the nucleus.
12. (c) According to postulates of Bohr’s atom model, the electron revolve round the nucleus in fixed orbit of
definite radii. As long as the electron is in a certain orbits it does not radiate any energy.
13. (b) Maximum number of photon is given by all the transitions possible  4 C2  6
Minimum number of transition = 1,
that is directly jump from 4 to 1.
14. (b) When the atom gets appropriate energy from outside, then this electron rises to some higher energy
level. Now it can return either directly to the lower energy level or come to the lowest energy level after
passing through other lower energy lends, hence all possible transitions take place in the source and
many lines are seen in the spectrum.
15. (d) Emission transitions can take place between any higher energy level and any energy level below it while
absorption transitions start from the lowest energy level only and may end at any higher energy level.
Hence number of absorptions transitions between two given energy levels is always less than the
number of emission transitions between same two levels.
C C
B B
A A
Absorption Emission
16. (a) We knows that an electron is very light particle as compared to an -particle. Hence electron cannot
scatter the -particle at large angles, according to law of conservation of momentum. On the other hand,
mass of nucleus is comparable with the mass of -particle, hence only the nucleus of atom is
responsible for scattering of -particles.
17. (c) All those elements which are heavier than lead are radioactive. This is because in the nuclei of heavy
atoms, besides the nuclear attractive forces, repulsive forces between the protons are also effective and
these forces reduce the stability of the nucleus. Hence, the nuclei of heavier elements are being converted
into lighter and lighter elements by emission of radioactive radiation. When they are converted into lead,
the emission is stopped because the nucleus of lead is stable (or lead is most stable elements in radioactive
series).

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 ATOM AND NUCLEI

18. (d) The penetrating power is maximum in case of gamma rays because gamma rays are an electromagnetic
radiation of very small wavelength.
19. (b) -particles, being emitted with very high speed compared to -particles, pass very little time near the
atoms of the medium. So the probability of the atoms being ionised is comparatively less. But due to
this reason, their loss of energy is very slow and they can penetrate the medium through a sufficient
depth.
20. (b) -particles are emitted with very high velocity (up to 0.99 c). So, according to Einstein’s theory of
relatively, the mass of a -particle is much higher compared to is` its rest mass (m 0 ). The velocity of
electrons obtained by other means is very small compared to c (Velocity of light). So its mass remains
nearly m 0 . But -particle and electron both are similar particles.
dN 0.693 N
21. (c) Radioactivity    N 
dt T
0 .693  10 8 0 .693  1 .2  10 8
   0.693  2  10 6.
50 60
Radioactivity is proportional to 1/T1/2, and not to T1/2.
235
22. (c) Fragments produced in the fission of U are radioactive. When uranium undergoes fission, barium
and krypton are not the only products. Over 100 different isotopes of more than 20 different elements
have been detected among fission products. All of these atoms are, however, in the middle of the
periodic table, with atomic numbers ranging from 34 to 58. Because the neutron-proton ratio needed for
stability in this range is much smaller than that of the original uranium nucleus, the residual nuclei
called fission fragments, always have too many neutrons for stability. A few free neutrons are liberated
during fission and the fission fragments undergo a series of beta decays (each of which increases Z by
one and decreases N by one) until a stable nucleus is reached. During decay of the fission fragments, an
average of 15 MeV of additional energy is liberated.
23. (b) Electron capture occurs more often than positron emission in heavy elements. This is because if
position emission is energetically allowed, electron capture is necessarily allowed, but the reverse is not
true i.e. when electron capture is energetically allowed, positron emission is not necessarily allowed.
24. (e) The whole mass of the atom is concentrated at nucleus and Mnucleus < (Sum of the masses of nucleous)
because, when nucleous combines, some energy is wasted.

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