Nuclear Physics

Yes, a hamster can generate electricity by running on a hamster wheel connected to a generator. The mechanical energy produced by the hamster's movement is converted into electrical energy through the generator. This can be a fun and educational way to demonstrate energy conversion to children.

Yes indeed they are ionizing radiation. Of particular importance to astronauts who are exposed to much more than those who are Earth bound. But even flight crew on high flying aircraft have to pay attention to this.

An electric cooker grill typically emits infrared radiation to cook food. This type of radiation heats the food by transferring energy through electromagnetic waves, similar to how the sun warms the Earth.

Yes, that is correct. Radioactive decay involves the transformation of an unstable parent isotope into a more stable daughter product through the emission of particles or energy. This process continues until the parent isotope reaches a stable configuration.

A nuclear bunker should ideally be built several feet underground, typically at least 10 feet or more, to protect against radiation from a nuclear blast. The deeper the bunker, the more protection it can provide. It's also important to consider the materials used in construction and ensure proper ventilation and supplies for an extended period of occupancy.

After one half-life, one half, 0.5, of a radionuclide will remain.

After a second half-life, one half of the half, 0.25, will remain, and then after a third, 0.125, and so on.

The equation for half-life is ...

AT = A0 2(-T/H)

... where A0 is the original activity, AT is the activity after some time T, and H is the half-life in units of T.

Keep in mind that the specific half-life only applies to the original nuclide, and that daughter products may well form and have their own half-lives. Also, half-life is relatively constant for each nuclide, unless some chemical situation is present, such as a fully ionized (electron stripped) nuclide, which can inhibit electron initiated decay, such as beta+ and internal conversion.

Half-life depends on the particular nuclide involved. You did not specify which nuclide. Please restate the question.

Curie is a unit of radioactivity, expressed as 3.7x1010 disintegrations per second. It is not a radionuclide.

If you meant curium, you still need to specify which isotope, because curium has several. The longest lived isotope of curium is 96247Cm, with a half-life of 1.56x107 years.

Yes. Gamma Rays are photons (like visible light, just at another part of the electromagnetic spectrum). They travel with constant velocity at the speed of light (only in a vacuum). Although the original speed of the gamma ray varies.

The thermal neutron is possibly the most energetic and powerful form of radiation. Apart from extensive alpha particle bombardment in certain fissile nuclides, neutrons are the only particle which effectively sustains a chain fission reaction.

Half-life is trationally employed for the assessment of the degree of accumulation (R) of drug in the body as follows:

R=1/(1-exp(-K*tau)....(1)

This equation applies for single-compartment model drugs. However, for drugs observing multiple compartmental bevavior, the terminal half-life, t0.5(beta), is used. This will, invariable, results in over or under estimation of the drugs' accumulation ration.

As a matter of fact an effective elimination rate constant should, per necessity, take into consideration the exact distributional characteristics of the drug in question. i.e the rate of drug trasfer from one compartment to the other and vis-a-versa.

The following relationship could be of use in this regard:

ERC = (apha*beta)/(K12+k21), where ERC stands for Effective Elimination Rate Constand...

Enjoy....

It's beta decay. Actually, it's beta minus decay. A neutron in the nucleus of thorium-234 undergoes beta minus decay and changes into a proton with the subsequent release of an electron, an antineutrino and some energy. The transformation of a neutron in the thorium nucleus into that proton creates another element. You'll recall that the identity of an element is determined solely by the number of protons in its nucleus. And our thorium atom has now become a protractinium-234 atom. Links are provided below for more information.

When an atom emits an alpha particle, it loses two protons and two neutrons from its nucleus. This results in a new element being formed with an atomic number that is two less than the original element.

The half-life of a substance increases over time due to the decreasing amount of the substance left to decay. As less of the original substance remains, the rate of decay slows down, resulting in a longer half-life. Additionally, some substances may transform into different isotopes or decay products with longer half-lives, contributing to the overall increase in half-life over time.

Stars are giant nuclear fusion reactors; with their intense heat and pressure from their immense gravity, they smash hydrogen atoms into helium -- this is called fusion. Helium atoms fuse together to become heavier elements; this is how all of the elements past hydrogen and helium were created (hydrogen was created by the creation of the universe, and it is believed some helium may have been created then, too, but every element past helium owes its existence to the nuclear fusion in stars). This fusion process generates energy for the star (some of the particles making up the atoms that are smashed together are converted into energy during the fusion process), which is why stars continue to burn for so long -- the fusion of atoms generates energy that fuses more atoms together.

As atoms get heavier, however, they are more resistant to fusion and it takes more energy to smash the atoms together. Past iron, atoms require more energy to fuse together than the energy that comes out of the fusion process. The fusion process continues, however, because not all of a star fuses to the same element at the same time (100% of the hydrogen doesn't fuse immediately into helium ... by the time iron atoms are created, there is still plenty of hydrogen still fusing). Because stars are fluid-like plasma, heavier atoms readily sink through to the star's core. It is not a steady process, however ... heavier atoms can sometimes trap lighter ones beneath them. Gradually, though, more and more iron concentrates in the core ... but while fusion is still going on from lighter elements, the iron atoms continue fusing to heavier elements.

Eventually, however, there are too many heavy atoms in a star's core and the fusion fire seizes. The iron atoms collapse and a huge explosion is generated -- depending on the star's size, this can be a nova or supernova (plural novae or supernovae). The energy of this explosion blasts away the dead star's material, including the iron and heavier elements. The heavier elements will tend to form dust and other debris, that may eventually join with clouds of hydrogen to form part of a new solar system.

This is how the elements present in our solar system, and right here on Earth, came to be -- from carbon which makes up most life down to the ultra-heavy atoms like uranium, all of it was created in the fusion of stars and blasted away by novae and supernovae.

Alpha particles are actually electron-less helium nuclei versus beta particles which are actually electrons, which are much smaller than alpha particles. Therefore, alpha particles' penetrating strength is much smaller than beta particles (a sheet of paper versus a wooden board). Therefore, beta particles will penetrate more into a human body and will do more damage than alpha particles which are usually stopped at the skin.

Not necessarily. Each nuclide has its own half-life in the chain, with some steps slower, and some steps faster.

Nuclear radiation is useful in various fields such as medicine for diagnosis and treatment of diseases, energy production through nuclear power plants, and scientific research for understanding the properties of materials and molecules. It allows for non-invasive imaging, reliable energy generation, and insights into the structure and behavior of matter at the atomic level.

612C contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons, while 613C contains 6 protons and 7 neutrons. Both are stable, with 612C accounting for 98.89% of the natural carbon in the environment, and with 613C accounting for 1.11% of the natural carbon in the environment.

Oxygen-15 does not decay by alpha decay. It decays by beta+ decay to Nitrogen-15, giving off a positron and an electron neutrino.

715O --> (beta+)--> (t1/2 = 122.24 seconds) --> 615N + e+ + ve

The difference between Fusion and Fission is that Fission is easier to do and produces more energy than fusion reactions. However fission can be dangerous and is used in Nuclear reactors. Fusion however is safer and produces less energy but safely. It is quite difficult to cause a Fusion reaction however.

The charge of any nuclide is independent of its atomic mass number. It depends entirely on the electron to proton ratio.

614C simply has 6 protons and 8 neutrons. There is nothing to say how many electrons there are. The usual case, in a non-ionized atom, would be 6. If there were, for instance, one electron missing, the correct symbol would be 614C1+.

Any radioactive element gives off subatomic particles, and these particles carry considerable energy. That is the definition of radioactivity. Examples of radioactive elements include uranium, plutonium, polonium, radium, and many more.

In reality, and what you will be taught in a standard physics textbook, is that radioactive decay is not affected by external conditions.

However, theoretically, if the temperature is around 100GeV (giga electron volts), then the weak force will be unified with the strong force and the electromagnetic forces, meaning it will no longer be "weak" and the rate of decay will thus increase dramatically.