http://www.nearingzero.

net
Monday, May 2, go to slide 12

Nuclear Transformations
Radioactive Decay
Half Life
Radioactive Series

Plutonium keeps better in small pieces.Lester Del Rey.

Chapter 12
Nuclear Transformations
Radioactivity occurs because some nuclei are unstable
and spontaneously decay.
Important aspects of radioactivity:
Elements transform into other, different
elements.
The energy released in radioactive decay comes
from mass which is converted to energy.
Radioactivity is a quantum phenomenon.
Radioactive decay is a statistical process.

12.1 Radioactive Decay

There are five kinds of radioactive decay. Figure 12.3
shows them and gives the reasons for their occurrence.
Understand figure 12.3.
Starting on the next slide are the five kinds of
radioactive decay. We will go into more detail for each
in later sections in this chapter.

(1) Gamma decay.

Occurs when a nucleus has excess energy.
A gamma ray (packet of energy) is emitted from
the nucleus.
The parent and daughter nuclides are the same.
Example:
87
38

Sr *

87
38

Sr + .

The * in the reaction denotes an excited nuclear

state.

(2) Alpha decay.

Occurs when the nucleus is too large.
An alpha particle is emitted, reducing the size of
the nucleus.
The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 2
less and an atomic mass 4 less than the parent
nucleus.
Example:
238
92

234
90

Th + 42He .

(3) Beta decay.

Occurs because the nucleus has too many
neutrons relative to protons.
A neutron changes into a proton and emits an
electron.
The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1
more and an atomic mass the same as the parent
nucleus.
14
14
Example:
C

N
+
e
.
6
7
Later we will find there is something missing from
this reaction.

(4) Electron capture.

Occurs because a nucleus has too many protons
relative to neutrons.
A proton captures an electron and changes into a
neutron.
The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1
less and an atomic mass the same as the parent
nucleus.
Example:

64
29

Cu + e-

64
28

Ni .

Again, we will find something is missing from this

reaction.

(5) Positron emission.

As with electron capture, this occurs because a
nucleus has too many protons relative to neutrons.
A proton emits a positron and changes into a
neutron.
The daughter nucleus has an atomic number 1
less and an atomic mass the same as the parent
nucleus.
Example:

64
29

Cu

64
28

Ni + e+ .

Guess what? Something is missing from this

reaction!

Radioactive decay involves an unstable nucleus giving

off a particle or ray, and in the process becoming a
more stable nucleus.
There are several ways to detect what the particle/ray
is.
Detect the radiation after it passes through a
magnetic field. Positive and negative charged
particles will be deflected in different directions.
Neutral particles or rays go straight through.

See what it penetrates. A piece of paper can stop alpha

rays. Beta particles can be stopped by a sheet of
aluminum. Even lead may not stop gamma rays.

The activity of a radioactive sample is the rate at

which atoms decay.
If N(t) is the number of atoms present at a time t, then
the activity R is

dN
R =.
dt
dN/dt is negative, so the activity is a positive quantity.
The SI unit of activity is the becquerel: 1 becquerel = 1
Bq = 1 event/second.
Another unit of activity is the curie (Ci) defined by
1 curie = 1 Ci = 3.70x1010 events/s = 37 GBq.

This section also contains interesting paragraphs about

the relation between the geology of the earth and
radioactivity, and about radiation hazards. I won't
lecture on them, but they are testable on quizzes or the
final exam, so be sure to read them.

12.2 Half-Life
Experimental measurements show that the activities of
radioactive samples fall off exponentially with time.
*Empirically:

R = - R0e-t .

is called the decay constant of the decaying nuclide.

Each radioactive nuclide has a different decay
constant.
*Argh!

The half-life, T, is the time it takes for the activity to

drop by . We can find a relationship between and
T:
R0
- 1/2
= - R0e
2
activity after T

original activity

1
-
= e 1/2
2
+ 1/2

=2

1/2 = ln 2
=

ln 2
1/2

0.693
=
1/2

Here's a plot of the activity of a radionuclide.

The initial activity
was chosen to be
1000 for this plot.

The half-life is 10
(in whatever time
units we are using).

All decay curves look like this; only the numbers on the
axes will differ, depending on the radionuclide (which
determines the half-life) and the amount of radioactive
material (which determines the initial activity).

Hyperphysics is a good place to go for supplementary

material. Heres their plot of radioactive decay (they
use A instead of R for activity).

One more picture, from Physics2000.

Well visit their decay

simulator later.

What a crummy graph

look how bumpy it is!

Whats this? (Answers

later!)

Remember, empirically
R = - R0e-t .
Lets fix this!
The empirical activity law can be derived if we assume
that is the probability per unit time for the decay of a
nucleus.
Then dt is the probability that the nucleus will undergo
decay in a time dt.
If a sample contains N undecayed nuclei, then the
number dN that will decay in the time dt is just N times
the probability of decay,
dN = - N dt .

This equation can be integrated to give

N = - N0e-t .
which you should recognize as looking like the activity
law with N's instead of R's.
The activity R of a sample of N radioactive nuclei is just
R = N.
Whats the difference between
R = - R0e-t

and

N = - N0e-t

Other than the fact that one talks about rates and the
other about numbers?

R = - R0e-t
is empirical, and you should always be suspicious of
empirical equations, which may or may not have any
physical meaning.
N = - N0e-t
was derived under the assumption that is the decay
probability per unit time, and is part of a testable
theory. Big difference!
Important! The equation for activity R in terms the
number of nuclei present
R = N
involves , which is a probability.

Radioactive decay is inherently probabilistic in nature!

That tells you there must be quantum mechanics
lurking behind it. That also tells you why this curve

should not be smooth, even if you could eliminate all

experimental sources of error!
Heres a worthwhile radioactivity applet.

Example: radon (nasty stuff*) has a half-life of 3.8 days.

If you start with 1 mg of radon, after 3.8 days you will
have 0.5 mg of radon.
Days
0
3.8
7.4
11.4

Radon Left (mg)

1
0.5
0.25
0.125

The mean lifetime of a nucleus is different than its halflife. It turns out that
T =1.44 T1/2 .
See Beiser for details but dont worry about this for the
final.
*But perhaps not as dangerous as once believed.

http://www.nearingzero.net

radiometric dating
Carbon-14 dating is the best-known example. Carbon14 is formed in the atmosphere by the reaction
14
7

N + 01n 146 C + 11H .

This reaction is continually taking place in the

atmosphere, and the carbon-14 atoms are continually
beta decaying to nitrogen-14, with a half-life of 5760
years.
Because carbon-14 is continually being created and
decaying, we eventually reach a steady state condition,
where there is a constant amount of carbon-14 in the
atmosphere.

Living things take up carbon-14 as long as they are

alive, and have the same ratio of carbon-14 to carbon12 as does the atmosphere.
When living things die, they stop taking up carbon-14,
and the radioactive carbon-14 decays.
If we compare the carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio in a
dead organism with a living one, we can tell how long
the carbon-14 has been decaying without replenishing,
and therefore how long the organism has been dead.
This assumes he carbon-14 to carbon-12 ratio in
the atmosphere is the same now as it was when
the organism died.
It also assumes living organisms now are
essentially the same in their carbon content as
were similar organisms long ago.

Carbon-14 dating takes us back a relatively short time,

and both assumptions seem to be valid.
The formula for radiocarbon dating, derived from R = R 0
e-t, is
1 R0
t = ln .

R
We need to know the activity R0 of the organism at
death, which is the reason for the second assumption
on the previous slide.
Radiocarbon dating is good for a few half-lives of
carbon-14, or 50,000 or so years.

A similar approach can be taken with radioactive

potassium, rubidium, or uranium, to go back much
further in time.
We have to find parent-daughter decay schemes that
give us unique daughter nuclei; i.e., they could have
only come from decay of the parent.
If we assume the daughter nuclei came only from the
original radioactive nuclei, we can calculate the original
number, and then calculate the decay time.
We measure the time back to some event caused the
clock to start "ticking;" i.e., an event that froze into the
sample the particular number of parent atoms which
resulted in the observed number of daughter atoms.

Radiocarbon example. A piece of wood has 13

disintegrations per minute per gram of carbon. The
activity of living wood is 16 dpm per gram. How long ago
did the tree die?
1 R0
t = ln .

R
5760 years 16
t =
ln
=1726 years .
0.693
13

12.3 Radioactive Series

FS2003skip this section (good idea to read it anyway).
Most radionuclides belong to one of four radioactive
series.

The masses of the nuclides in these four series are

given by
A = 4n
A = 4n+1
A = 4n+2
A = 4n+3.
The fact that there are only four decay series may seem
surprising at first, but it's not, if you think about it. The
kinds of radioactive decay we mentioned above involve
either a change in mass number A of 4 (alpha decay) or
of 0 (all of the others).
Thus, if we start with a nuclide of mass number A0, it
can only decay into nuclides of mass number A0-4,
A0-8, etc.

This table in Beiser summarizes radioactive series

further:
Mass Numbers
Product

Stable End
Parent

Series

4n

thorium

232
Th
90

4n+1

neptunium

93

4n+2

uranium

239
U
92

4n+3

actinium

92

Np237

U235

I used old-fashioned nuclide notation

a whole lot easier in powerpoint!

208
Pb
82

83

Bi209

206
Pb
82

82

Pb207

232
Th
because its
90

The thorium
series.

note:
decay
decay
branch at
216
Po

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/nuclear/radser.html

Visit http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/
nuclear/radser.html to see charts of the other three
series.
We can calculate the number of daughter nuclei present
as a function of time in these decay series.
For this semester I am skipping the calculation.