Nuclear Flashcards
Define mass defect
The mass defect of a nuclear is the difference between the total mass of the separate nucleons and the combined mass of the nucleus
Define nuclear binding energy
Nuclear binding energy is the energy required to separate to infinity all the nucleons of the nucleus.
It is equal to the mass defect of a nucleus
Define binding energy per nucleon
Binding energy per nucleon is the energy need to separate the nucleons to infinity in a nucleus divided by the number of nucleons in the nucleus
What is considered high binding energy
More than 8.6 MeV
What stuff is conserved in a nuclear reaction
Mass energy
Charge
Momentum
No. Of nucleons
Change in mass
Mass of reactants minus mass of products
What is nuclear fission
Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy nucleus into 2 lighter nuclei of approximately the same mass
What is fission triggered by
Slow or thermal Neuton
What is the product of fission
Gamma ray photons
2/3 neutrons
Daughter nuclei have higher BE per nucleon than parent nucleus
What is nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion is when two light nuclei combine to form a nucleus of greater mass
What is radioactive decay and what are its characteristics?
Radioactive decay is the spontaneous decay of a nucleus into more stable nuclei with the emission of an alpha or beta particle and usually accompanied by the emission of a gamma photon.
Spontaneous: not affected by external factors such as temperature and pressure
Random: can’t predict which nucleus will decay next
What is alpha decay
Alpha decay is the spontaneous emission of an alpha particle by a radioactive nucleus
Occur in nucleus with too many nucleons
Define decay constant
Decay constant is the probability per unit time of decay of a nucleus
Define activity
Activity is the number of nuclear decays occurring per unit time in the radioactive source
Define half life
The half life of a radioactive nuclide is the time taken for the number of undecayed nucleus to reduced to half of its original number
