introduction to radioactivity, isotopes and decay

Question 1

define half life

Answer 1

the time taken for an abundance of atoms to decay to half its original number

Question 2

define isotope

Answer 2

atoms of the same element that have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons

Question 3

define the kinetic isotope effect

Answer 3

heavier isotopes tend to react slower than lighter isotopes of the same element

Question 4

define mass spectroscopy

Answer 4

a method used to analyse samples to discriminate between molecules that differ by just one mass unit (i.e. proton or a deuterium)

Question 5

what do alpha particles produce?

Answer 5

radiation that isnt influenced by an electric or magnetic field when interacting with beryllium, boron and lithium

Question 6

what are the three classes of radiation?

Answer 6

alpha, beta and gamma

Question 7

what is alpha radiation?

Answer 7

positively charged helium nuclei, which can be sourced by the alpha decay of heavy atoms (heaver than 106 particle mass)

Question 8

how does alpha decay change the mass and atomic number?

Answer 8

mass number reduces by four and atomic number reduces by two

Question 9

what is beta radiation?

Answer 9

when a neutron is transformed into a proton with the emission of an electron and a neutrino

Question 10

how does beta decay affect mass and atomic number?

Answer 10

mass number stays the same and atomic number increases by one

Question 11

what is gamma radiation?

Answer 11

rays produced after alpha or beta decay, where the daughter nucleus formed decays to a lower state of excitation by emitting a gamma ray photon

Question 12

what is the order of radiation strength?

Answer 12

gamma > beta > alpha