Nuclear Physics Flashcards
Nuclide
A nuclide is the atomic species with a specific mass number A and proton number Z
Isotope
Isotopes are nuclides having the same number of protons but different number of neutrons
Atomic Mass Unit
One atomic mass unit (1u) is equal to one-twelfth of the mass of a carbon−12 atom
Mass Defect
The mass defect of a nucleus is the difference between the total mass of the separate nucleons and the combined mass of the nucleus
Nuclear binding energy
Nuclear binding energy is the energy equivalent of the mass defect of a nucleus
It is the energy required to separate to infinity all the nucleons of a nucleus
Binding Energy Per Nucleon
Binding energy per nucleon is the total energy needed to completely separate all the nucleons in a nucleus to infinity divided by the number of nucleons in the nucleus
Nuclear Fission
Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy nucleus into two lighter nuclei of approximately the same mass
Nuclear fusion
Nuclear fusion occurs when two light nuclei combine to form a nucleus of greater mass
Radioactivity
Radioactivity is the spontaneous decay of a nucleus to a more stable nucleus with the emission of an alpha-particle or a beta-particle, and usually accompanied by the emission of a gamma-photon
Spontaneous
Radioactive decay is a spontaneous process because the rate of decay is not affected by external environmental conditions, such as temperature or pressure
Random
The probability of decay per unit time is constant
Decay Constant
For radioactive decay, the decay constant is the probability per unit time of the decay of a nucleus
Activity
The activity of a radioactive source is the number of nuclear decays occurring per unit time in the source
Becquerel
1 becquerel is 1 decay per second
Half-life
The half-life of a radioactive nuclide is the time taken for the number of undecayed nuclei to be reduced to half its original number
