Nuclear Chemistry Summative

Question 1

What is Half-Life?

Answer 1

The time in which half the atoms in a radioactive isotope decay.

Question 2

What is carbon dating?

Answer 2

a chemical analysis used to determine the age of organic materials based on their content of carbon-14; believed to be reliable up to 40,000 years

Question 3

What is a nuclear reactor?

Answer 3

A device in which nuclear fission initiates a controlled chain reaction, producing heat
energy typically used for power generation

Question 4

What is the control rod?

Answer 4

are used in nuclear reactors to control the fission rate of uranium and plutonium.
They are composed of chemical elements such as boron, silver, indium and cadmium
that are capable of absorbing many neutrons without themselves fissioning.

Question 5

What is a fission?

Answer 5

Fission is the splitting of a heavy nucleus into lighter nuclei

Question 6

What is fusion?

Answer 6

fusion is the combining of nuclei to form a bigger and heavier nucleus.

Question 7

What is decay?

Answer 7

Change of an element into a different element, usually with some other particle(s) and
energy emitted.

Question 8

What is a reactant

Answer 8

Reactants are written on the left side of the arrow in a chemical or nuclear equation.
This is what you start with.

Question 9

What is a product in chemistry?

Answer 9

Products are written on the right side of the arrow in a chemical or nuclear equation. This
is what you end with.

Question 10

What is electron capture?

Answer 10

the transformation of an atomic nucleus in which an electron from the atom is
spontaneously absorbed into the nucleus. A proton is changed into a neutron, thereby
reducing the atomic number by 1. A neutrino is emitted.
-Electron is added on the right side of the arrow in a nuclear reaction.

Question 11

What is Band of Stability?

Answer 11

Band containing nonradioactive nuclides in a plot of number of neutrons versus atomic
number (number of protons).

Question 12

What is radioisotope?

Answer 12

any of several species of the same chemical element with different masses whose
nuclei are unstable and dissipate excess energy by spontaneously emitting radiation in
the form of alpha, beta, and gamma rays.

Question 13

What is transmutation?

Answer 13

The changing of one chemical element into another by radioactive decay.

Question 14

What is artificial transmutation?

Answer 14

bombarding the nucleus of a substance with subatomic particles to change one element
into another.

Question 15

What is an alpha particle?

Answer 15

the nucleus of a helium atom. It is a positively charged particle consisting of two protons
and two neutrons that is emitted (given off) in radioactive decay.

Question 16

What is a beta particle?

Answer 16

A high-speed electron

Question 17

What is a gamma ray?

Answer 17

High speed x-ray. This is pure energy given off during nuclear decay.

Question 18

Nuclear reactions follow conservation laws, and they are balanced in two ways. What two ways are nuclear equations balanced?

Answer 18

1. The sum of the mass numbers of the reactants equals the sum of the mass numbers of the products.
2. The sum of the charges of the reactants equals the sum of the charges of the
   products.

Question 19

What is a nucleon?

Answer 19

a nucleon is one of the particles that makes up the atomic nucleus (protons and
neutrons),

Question 20

What is penetrating power?

Answer 20

the tendency of radiations to cross by certain mediums. Gamma rays > Betta > Alpha

Question 21

When is a lightweight isotope likely to be stable?

Answer 21

if the ratio of protons to neutrons in its nucleus is 1 to 1.

Question 22

What are the two nucleons?

Answer 22

Protons and neutrons

Question 23

Which isotope is least likely to be found in the band of stability

Answer 23

Aluminum, because it has a neutron to proton ratio that is higher than 1 to 1

Question 24

During electron capture, a proton in the nucleus of an atom is converted into a(n) ______

Answer 24

Neutron

Question 25

Why are Atoms located above the band of stability on a graph of numbers of neutrons versus number of
protons usually unstable

Answer 25

They contain too many Neutrons

Question 26

What is the form of nuclear radiation that has the greatest penetrating power ?

Answer 26

Gamma Rays

Question 27

When a radioactive nucleus gives off a gamma ray, what happens?

Answer 27

Its atomic number increases by ZERO

Question 28

How much charge does Each alpha particle carry?

Answer 28

+2

Question 29

How much charge does Each beta particle carry?

Answer 29

0

Question 30

What is the element symbol for Alpha particles?

Answer 30

4 over 2 a. (4 protons+neutrons, and 2 protons)

Question 31

What is the element symbol for beta particles?

Answer 31

0 over -1 e (0 protons+neutrons, and 1 proton