Radioactivity

Group Members:
1. AIZAM AZLIM MOHD NOR (2011270912)
2. HAZIZAN MOHD SHAFAI (2011207764)
3. SAIFUDDIN ISMAIL ( 2011404546)
4.ZAMRI B MOHAMED NOR (2011869806)
5. MOHAMAD MUZAIDI BIN
LAINI(2011686108)

Definition of radioactivity
Radioactivity defined as the spontaneous
emission of particles (alpha, beta, neutron)
or radiation (gamma, K capture), or both at
the same time, from the decay of certain
nuclides that these particles are, due to an
adjustment of their internal structure.

 Radioactivity can be natural or artificial. In

natural radioactivity, the substance already
has radioactivity in the natural state. In
artificial radioactivity, the radioactivity has
been induced by irradiation.

 A radionuclide is all the radioactive cores of the

same kind. All radioactive cores forming a
radionuclide have a well-defined radioactivity,
which is common to all of them and that identifies
them; the same way that a type of chemical
reaction identifies the elements involved.

Origin of radioactivity
In 1896
Antoine-Henri Becquerel discovered
radioactivity. He observed that, in studies on
the phosphorescence of substances, a
mineral of uranium was able to gloss
photographic plates, which were kept at his
side.

What is an Atom?
Atoms are the basic
units of matter and
the defining structure
of elements.
Atoms are made up
of three particles:
protons, neutrons and
electrons.

Radiation
Radiation: The process of emitting
energy in the form of waves or
particles.
Where does radiation come from?
Radiation is generally produced
when particles interact or decay.
A large contribution of the radiation
on earth is from the sun (solar) or
from radioactive isotopes of the
elements (terrestrial).
Radiation is going through you at
this very moment!
http://www.atral.com/U238.html

Isotopes
Whats an isotope?
Two or more varieties of an element
having the same number of protons but
different number of neutrons. Certain
isotopes are unstable and decay to
lighter isotopes or elements.
Deuterium and tritium are isotopes of
hydrogen. In addition to the 1 proton,
they have 1 and 2 additional neutrons in
the nucleus respectively*.
Another prime example is Uranium
238, or just 238U.

Radioactivity
By the
the end
end of
of the
the 1800s,
1800s, itit was
was known
known that
that certain
certain
By
isotopes emit
emit penetrating
penetrating rays.
rays. Three
Three types
types of
of radiation
radiation
isotopes
were known:
known:
were
1) Alpha
Alpha particles
particles ()
()
1)
2) Beta
Beta particles
particles ()
()
2)
3) Gamma-rays
Gamma-rays
3)

()
()

Where do these particles come

from ?
These particles generally come
from the nuclei of atomic isotopes
which are not stable.
The decay chain of Uranium
produces all three of these forms
of radiation.
Lets look at them in more detail

Note: This is the

atomic weight, which
is the number of
protons plus neutrons

Alpha Particles ()

Radium

Radon

R226

Rn222

88 protons
138 neutrons

86 protons
136 neutrons

n p
p n

He)

2 protons
2 neutrons

The alpha-particle is a Helium nucleus.

Its the same as the element Helium, with the
electrons stripped off !

Beta Particles ()
Carbon
C14

Nitrogen
N14

6 protons
8 neutrons

7 protons
7 neutrons

eelectron
(beta-particle)

We see that one of the neutrons from the C 14 nucleus

converted into a proton, and an electron was ejected.
The remaining nucleus contains 7p and 7n, which is a nitrogen
nucleus. In symbolic notation, the following process occurred:
n p + e ( +

Yes, the same

neutrino we saw
previously

Gamma particles ()
In much the same way that electrons in atoms can be in an
excited state, so can a nucleus.
Neon
Ne20

10 protons
10 neutrons
(in excited state)

Neon
Ne20

10 protons
10 neutrons
(lowest energy state)

gamma

gamma isis aa high

high energy
energy light
light particle
particle..
AA gamma
It is
is NOT
NOT visible
visible by
by your
your naked
naked eye
eye because
because it
it is
is not
not in
in
It
the visible
visible part
part of
of the
the EM
EM spectrum.
spectrum.
the

Gamma Rays
Neon
Ne20

Neon
Ne20

The gamma from nuclear decay

is in the X-ray/ Gamma ray
part of the EM spectrum
(very energetic!)

How do these particles differ ?

Particle

Mass*
(MeV/c2)

Charge

Gamma ()

Beta ()

~0.5

-1

Alpha ()

~3752

+2

m == EE // cc22
** m

Rate of Decay
Beyond knowing the types of particles which are emitted
when an isotope decays, we also are interested in how frequently
one of the atoms emits this radiation.
A very important point here is that we cannot predict when a
particular entity will decay.
We do know though, that if we had a large sample of a radioactive
substance, some number will decay after a given amount of time.
Some radioactive substances have a very high rate of decay,
while others have a very low decay rate.
To differentiate different radioactive substances, we look to
quantify this idea of decay rate

Half-Life
The half-life (h) is the time it takes for half the atoms of a
radioactive substance to decay.
For example, suppose we had 20,000 atoms of a radioactive
substance. If the half-life is 1 hour, how many atoms of that
substance would be left after:
#atoms
remaining

% of atoms
remaining

1 hour (one lifetime) ?

10,000

(50%)

2 hours (two lifetimes) ?

5,000

(25%)

3 hours (three lifetimes) ?

2,500

(12.5%)

Time

Lifetime ()
The
Thelifetime
lifetimeof
ofaaparticle
particleisisan
analternate
alternatedefinition
definitionof
of

therate
rateof
ofdecay,
decay,one
onewhich
whichwe
weprefer.
prefer.
the
ItItisisjust
justanother
anotherway
wayof
ofexpressing
expressinghow
howfast
fastthe
thesubstance
substance

decays..
decays..
ItItisissimply:
simply:1.44
1.44xxh,
h,and
andone
oneoften
oftenassociates
associatesthe
the

letter
to
toit.
it.
letter
The
Thelifetime
lifetimeof
ofaafree
freeneutron
neutronisis14.7
14.7minutes
minutes

{neutron=14.7min.}
min.}
{neutron=14.7
Lets
Letsuse
usethis
thisaabit
bitto
tobecome
becomecomfortable
comfortablewith
withit
it

Lifetime (I)
The lifetime of a free neutron is 14.7 minutes.
If I had 1000 free neutrons in a box, after 14.7
minutes some number of them will have decayed.
The number remaining after some time is given by the
radioactive decay law

tt//

N N
N00ee
N

N0 = starting number of
particles
= particles lifetime
This is the exponential. Its
value is 2.718, and is a very useful
number. Can you find it on your
calculator?

Lifetime (II)
N N0e

Note by slight rearrangement of this formula:

Fraction of particles which did not decay:
Fraction of
remaining
neutrons

1.00
1.00
0.80
0.80

1.0

14.7

0.368

29.4

0.135

0.20
0.20

0.050

0.00
0.00
0
0

44.1

58.8

0.018

73.5

0.007

N / N0 = e-t/

1.20
1.20

Fraction
FractionSurvived
Survived

#
Time
lifetimes (min)

t /

0.60
0.60
0.40
0.40

10
10

Lifetimes
Lifetimes

After4-5
4-5lifetimes,
lifetimes,almost
almostall
allof
ofthe
the
After
unstableparticles
particleshave
havedecayed
decayedaway!
away!
unstable

Lifetime (III)
Not
Not all
all particles
particles have
have the
the same
same lifetime.
lifetime.

Uranium-238
Uranium-238 has
has aa lifetime
lifetime of
of about
about 66 billion
billion

99) years !
(6x10
(6x10 ) years !
Some
Some subatomic
subatomic particles
particles have
have lifetimes
lifetimes that
that are
are

-12
less than
than 1x10
1x10-12
sec !!
less
sec
Given
Given aa batch
batch of
of unstable
unstable particles,
particles, we
we cannot
cannot

say which
which one
one will
will decay.
decay.
say
The
The process
process of
of decay
decay is
is statistical.
statistical. That
That is,
is, we
we can
can

only talk
talk about
about either,
either,
only
1) the
the lifetime
lifetime of
of aa radioactive
radioactive substance*,
substance*, or
or
1)
2) the
the probability
probability that
that aa given
given particle
particle will
will decay.
decay.
2)

Lifetime (IV)
Given a batch of 1 species of particles, some will decay
within 1 lifetime (1, some within 2, some within 3and
so on
We CANNOT say Particle 44 will decay at t =22 min.
You just cant !
All we can say is that:
After 1 lifetime, there will be (37%) remaining
After 2 lifetimes, there will be (14%) remaining
After 3 lifetimes, there will be (5%) remaining
After 4 lifetimes, there will be (2%) remaining, etc

Lifetime (V)
If
If the
the particles
particles lifetime
lifetime is
is very
very short,
short, the
the particles
particles

decay away
away very
very quickly.
quickly.
decay
When
When we
we get
get to
to subatomic
subatomic particles,
particles, the
the lifetimes
lifetimes

are typically
typically only
only aa small
small fraction
fraction of
of aa second!
second!
are
238
If
If the
the lifetime
lifetime is
is long
long (like
(like 238
U) itit will
will hang
hang around
around

U)
for aa very
very long
long time!
time!
for

Lifetime (IV)
What if we only have 1 particle before us? What can we say
about it?

Survival Probability = N / N0 = e-t/

Decay Probability = 1.0 (Survival Probability)
# lifetimes Survival Probability
(percent)

Decay Probability =
1.0 Survival Probability
(Percent)

37%

63%

14%

86%

5%

95%

2%

98%

0.7%

99.3%

Summary
Certain
Certainparticles
particlesare
areradioactive
radioactiveand
andundergo
undergodecay.
decay.

Radiation
Radiationin
innuclear
nucleardecay
decayconsists
consistsof
of,
,,
,and
andparticles
particles

The
Therate
rateof
ofdecay
decayisisgive
giveby
bythe
theradioactive
radioactivedecay
decaylaw:
law:

-t/
-t/
Survival
Probability
=
(N/N
)e
Survival Probability = (N/N00)e

After
After55lifetimes
lifetimesmore
morethan
than99%
99%of
ofthe
theinitial
initialparticles
particles

havedecayed
decayedaway.
away.
have
Some
Someelements
elementshave
havelifetimes
lifetimes~billions
~billionsof
ofyears.
years.

Subatomic
Subatomicparticles
particlesusually
usuallyhave
havelifetimes
lifetimeswhich
whichare
are

fractionsof
ofaasecond
secondWell
Wellcome
comeback
backto
tothis!
this!
fractions