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Nuclear Physics

Most commonly known for its applications in nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, Nuclear Physics also has applications in medicine and archaeology. This category is for questions about the branch of physics that deals with the study of the forces, reactions, and internal structures of atomic nuclei, Nuclear Physics.

3,164 Questions

What happens if an atom of uranium loses a proton?

If an atom of uranium loses a proton, it becomes an atom of an element with one less proton in its nucleus, known as an isotope of a different element. This change can alter the atomic number, mass number, and chemical properties of the atom.

What does this quote saying life is half spent before you know what it is?

This quote suggests that people often spend the first half of their lives figuring out what life truly means or discovering their purpose. By the time they gain this understanding, half of their life has already passed, highlighting the importance of self-reflection and awareness in order to live a fulfilling life.

Solar system model of the atom?

A many-particle system where the behavior of each particle at every instant depends on the positions of all the other particles cannot be solved directly. This is not a problem restricted to quantum mechanics. A classical system where the same problem arises is a solar system with several planets. In classical mechanics as well as in quantum mechanics, such a system has to be treated by approximate methods

What is relation between GPS and magnetic field?

There is no relationship between GPS (Global Positioning System) and magnetic fields. The GPS system is based on a network of satellites that provide a reference datum that is based on position, regardless of magnetic field.

What is nuclear overhauser effect?

The nuclear Overhauser effect (NOE) is a phenomenon in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy where nuclear spins of different atoms influence each other through space, affecting the NMR signals. This effect provides useful distance information between atoms in molecules, helping determine molecular structures. NOE is often utilized in structural studies of proteins and other biological molecules.

What type of field would deflect alpha and beta particles?

An electromagnetic field would deflect alpha and beta particles. Charged particles like alpha and beta particles are affected by electromagnetic forces, causing them to change direction when passing through an electromagnetic field.

What does the term half life mean and give the half life of a few substances?

The term half-life is applied to the time it takes half of a sample of a radioactive substance to decay. It really is as simple as that, but we'd better add a few things to make it clear. Let's look a bit more closely.

Radioactive materials or substance are unstable. That is, the nuclei of the atoms of radioactive materials are unstable, and they will want to undergo a change that will allow them to get to a more stable state. Radioactive decay is the term we apply to the nuclear decay of these materials.

Radioactive materials undergo decay at a given rate. If we have an atom of a radioactive material it will eventually decay, but we cannot be sure when a specific atom will actually decay. But we can do a statistical analysis of a large sample and get an accurate answer. By carefully measuring decay events and making statistical calculations, we have arrived at some very accurate figures for the half-lives of radioactive materials. They vary widely from the tiniest fractions of a second to many billions of years.

Here are some common radioisotopes and their half-lives:

  • Uranium-238 has a half-life of 4.468 x 109 years. That's 4.468 billion years.
  • Plutonium-239 has a half-life of 24,100 years.
  • Cobalt-60 has a half-life of 5.2714 years.
  • Radon-222 has a half-life of 3.8235 days.
  • Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5,730 (+/- 40) years.

The half-life is the time it takes for one-half of something (usually a radioactive isotope) to decay.

What is produced when billions of uranium nuclei are split apart in a fission reaction?

When billions of uranium nuclei are split apart in a fission reaction, they release a large amount of energy, multiple new nuclei, and neutrons. This process is used in nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons.

What is the half life of promethium?

Promethium 145 has a half life of 17.7 years.

Promethium 146 has a half life of 5.53 years.

Promethium 147 has a half life of o.22 years.

What substance is used in a nuclear reactor to absorb heat released from the reactor?

Coolant, such as water or a specific type of liquid metal, is used in a nuclear reactor to absorb the heat released during the nuclear fission process. The coolant carries away the heat and helps to regulate the temperature within the reactor to prevent overheating.

What is it called when an isotope does not undergo radioactive decay?

When an isotope does not undergo radioactive decay, it is considered stable. Stable isotopes have a balanced ratio of protons and neutrons in their nuclei, which prevents them from emitting radiation over time.

What type of damage can alpha particles do to the body?

If Alpha Particles are inhaled, ingested (swallowed), or absorbed into the blood stream, alpha radiation is exposed to sensitive living tissue. The biological damage results in the increased chances of cancer, particularly lung cancer which is caused when alpha emitters are inhaled.

When an color photon is emitted from some molecule that means molecule jumped from some energy level to lower and emitted it or just one of its atom's electron did?

Either scenario is possible. Some electrons are involved in covalent bonds and have an emission spectrum that depicts that extended commitment. Some electrons are more tightly involved with individual atoms and their emissions are of higher energies.

How can electron exchange virtual photon with another electron when virtual particles live only for small time and distance between electrons can be bigger than distance photon can take in this time?

A better word than "live" would probable be the word "exist." And that leads to the question of what "exist" means.

When we say that electrons "exchange virtual photons," we do NOT mean that a particle with any measurable properties traveled from Point A to Point B with the speed of light. In a VAST over-simplification, the virtual photon never displays any measurable properites, and thus (in QM) doesn't really "exist" at any point during its travels.

Which leads to the obvious question, "Okay, so what DO you mean when you say that?" I wish I could give a simple answer. All I can do is refer you to the URL below, which discusses the use of virtual photons in long-distance interactions of particles.

How can electron emit radio photon Really are photons emitted only by electrons jumping from higher to lower energy levels?

The particle-like features of EM radiation at frequencies of radio waves are almost non-existent. It is far more useful to view such radiation as a vibrating EM-field instead of a photon of almost no energy. When doing so, you can see how a EM wave would result from electrons vibrating back and forth at at set frequency. By setting up an electronic oscillator that has a resonance at a radio wave frequency, you will get electrons vibrating at that frequency; and, from that, an EM wave of that frequency.

> are photons emitted only by electrons jumping from higher to lower energy levels?

No, there are many other ways to accomplish this.

How many neutrons lost when uranium 238 decays to thorium 234?

92238U decays to 90234Th by alpha decay. Since an alpha particle is a helium nucleus, 24He2+, having two protons and two neutrons, the reaction entails the loss of two neutrons.

Which particles move freely in straight lines between liquid solid and gas?

Liquid for sure. As the particles in solid only vibrate and gas particles move about at random. Liquid particles are free to move past each other but, the tend to stick together. Hope that helped.

What is the half-life of every radioactive element?

The same element can have different half-lives, for different isotopes. You can find a list at the Wikipedia article "List of radioactive isotopes by half-life". This list is NOT complete; a complete list would have about 3000 nuclides (that is, isotopes).

Why must a Geiger Muller tube for detecting alpha particles have very high thin end window?

A GM (Geiger-Muller) tube for detecting alpha particles must have a very thin window because alpha particles are highly interactive, and they can be stopped with very little, such as only a few inches of air, a sheet of paper, your skin, etc. Typical GM detectors for alpha application use mylar as the window. Even so, the mylar does interfere with the alpha detection, but this is better than nothing.

What is 100 micro Curie equal to?

A curie is defined as 3.7 x 1010 disintegrations per second. As such, a microcurie is 3.7 x 104 disintegrations per second or, as more commonly stated, 2.2 x 106 disintegrations per minute. In summary, 100 microcuries is 2.2 x 108 disintegrations per minute.

What is the rotationl velocity of the south pole and north pole of the earth?

The Earth's north pole and south pole each rotate at the rate of [ 1 rotation / 2 pi radians /

360 degrees ] per 24hours 56minutes 4seconds.

Their linear speed, with respect to any other point on Earth, is zero.

How does the half life of element Z compare to the half life of carbon-14?

The half-life of an element is the time it takes for half of a sample to decay. It is specific to each element. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years, whereas the half-life of element Z would depend on the specific element and is not necessarily comparable to carbon-14.

What is half-life as it applies to rocks and fosils?

I believe that the half-life refers to the amount of carbon in it. By knowing the half-life of carbon it can be used to say how old something is. Ofcourse plus or minus a few years. This is where carbon dating comes from. Hope this helps.

EDIT: the half-life refers to the time it takes for an element to decay into its daughter element

How would a fusion reactor differ from the nuclear reactors you currently have?

The nuclear reactors we have now are fission reactors. This means that they obtain their energy from nuclear reactions that split large nuclei such as uranium into smaller ones such as rubidium and cesium. There is a binding energy that holds a nucleus together. If the binding energy of the original large nucleus is greater than the sum of the binding energies of the smaller pieces, you get the difference in energy as heat that can be used in a power station to generate electricity.

A fusion reaction works the other way. It takes small nuclei like deuterium (heavy hydrogen) and fuses them together to make larger ones such as helium. If the binding energy of the two deuterium nuclei is greater than that of the final larger helium nucleus, it can be used to generate electricity.

There are two main differences between fission and fusion. The first is that the materials required for fission are rarer and more expensive to produce than those for fusion. For example, uranium has to be mined in special areas and then purified by difficult processes. By contrast, even though deuterium makes up only 0.02 percent of naturally occurring hydrogen, we have a vast supply of hydrogen in the water making up the oceans. The second difference is that the products of fission are radioactive and so need to be treated carefully, as they are dangerous to health. The products of fusion are not radioactive (although a realistic reactor will likely have some relatively small amount of radioactive product).

The problem with building fusion reactors is that a steady, controlled fusion reaction is very hard to achieve. It is still a subject of intense research. The main problem is that to achieve fusion we need to keep the nuclei we wish to fuse at extremely high temperatures and close enough for them to have a chance of fusing with one other. It is extremely difficult to find a way of holding everything together, since the nuclei naturally repel each other and the temperatures involved are high enough to melt any solid substance known. As technology improves, holding everything together will become easier, but it seems that we are a long way off from having commercial fusion reactors.