Nuclear Chemistry Flashcards
nuclear radiation
- anything that comes flying out of an atoms nucleus
- an atom that gives off radiation is radioactive
- the faster an atom is giving off radiation, the more radiation it is giving off, and the more radioactive it is
what are the 3 types of radioactivity?
- Alpha particles
- Beta particles
- Gamma rays
what are alpha particles made up of?
2 protons and 2 neutrons
what are beta particles made up of?
1 electron
what are gamma rays made up of?
pure energy
which are the most harmful radioactivity?
Gamma rays
what is the least harmful radioactivity?
alpha particles
what makes the radioactivity less harmful?
when the particles are larger
since radiation is so harmful, what does our body do to help heal this damage?
- our cells repair themselves if they’re damaged
- if our cells die, our body replaces them
everything larger than what atomic number is radioactive?
82
electric force
causes particles with opposite charges to attract, causes same charges to repel
strong nuclear force
causes all nucleons to attract and stay together
alpha particles ONLY work over long or short distances?
short distances
How does alpha particles work?
- competition between electric force and strong nuclear force
- over time, larger nuclei can’t hold together so they shed pieces of themselves in the form of alpha particles
the atomic nucleus likes to have equal number of what?
protons and neutrons
how does beta particles work?
- when there are too many more neutrons than protons a neutron will spontaneously turn into a proton and electron
- electron gets shot out of nucleus as a beta particle
radioactive decay
process of an atom emitting radiation
transmutation
when an atom changed into a different type of element, result of radioactive decay