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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
Is the bomb little boy a fission or fusion reaction?
The "Little Boy" bomb used in the Hiroshima bombing was a fission bomb, specifically a gun-type uranium-235 bomb. It relied on the nuclear fission of uranium-235 to release a massive amount of energy.
Is it true that very small amounts of energy are released by fission and fusion?
It depends. For nuclei lighter than nickel, fusion usually releases energy while fission requires energy. For nuclei heavier than nickel, fission usually releases energy while fusion requires energy.
What is Alpha radiation stopped by?
Alpha particles are the strongest of the three known types of radiation (alpha, beta, & gamma). Although the strongest, the alpha particles are the least penetrating.
They do not tend to penetrate any substance.
A well-known example is your skin. Alpha particles do not penetrate your skin barrier. However, alpha particles energy is high and is a cause of skin cancer and genetic mutations.
What two types of radiation would be deflected by an electric field?
Ionizing radiation is generally divided into electromagnetic radiation and particulate radiation. Charged particles are affected, and this will include protons, beta particles and alpha particles. Neutrons, another particulate form of ionizing radiation, won't be affected. Electromagnetic ionizing radiation, cosmic rays and gamma rays, are not effected.
What is the electrical charge of an alpha particle?
The electric charge of an alpha particle is positive. An alpha particle is a helium nucleus (which being a nucleus has a positive charge)
What is all the smoke that is coming out of the a nuclear power plant?
The smoke seen coming from a nuclear power plant is actually steam generated from the cooling towers. This steam is a byproduct of the plant's cooling system and does not contain harmful radiation. Nuclear power plants are designed to release this steam as part of their normal operation to cool the system.
What nuclear emission has the greatest penetrating power?
The nuclear emission with the greatest penetrating power is the gamma ray.
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To a large extent, the penetrating power of a nuclear particle depends on its velocity, and also, to a large extent, to the nature of the material it is penetrating.
Alpha particles are easily absorbed, unless they are going very fast. They can usually be absorbed by a piece of paper, if they come from radioactive materials. In space, however, they are often faster, and can pass through a human body.
Beta particles penetrate a bit deeper, and need something more to stop them. A thin piece of aluminum may be enough. Again this depends on the nature of the material and the speed.
Gamma rays are much harder to stop. By nature, being photons, they move at the speed of light. They are best blocked by material with high atomic numbers. Lead is good at blocking them. As odd as it sounds, depleted uranium is used to make shields for gamma rays because it is 1.6 times as dense as lead, and has a very long half life. When gamma rays lose energy, they do not slow down, but rather have their wave lengths increased. Eventually, they lose all ability to penetrate the dense materials through which they are going.
Neutrons are really hard to stop because, like gamma rays, they have no charge. They can penetrate a lot of matter, but are best slowed down by atoms with low atomic numbers. Water is a good shield - lead is not. Neutrons can penetrate quite a lot of material, but they lose velocity and energy as they do because they bump into the nuclei of atoms and impart energy to them.
The neutrino is a really a tough one to quantify. Neutrinos, like neutrons and gamma rays, have no charge, and might penetrate very deeply. But generally they have very little energy. Neutrinos of 3 GeV have been recorded, which would indicate they are going faster than the speed of light, though there is a pretty good chance the measurement was not perfect, and it would only require a little error to bring the velocity below light speed. An object going this fast, as small as a neutrino, and without a charge, would be my candidate for a prime suspect for having the greatest penetrating ability.
So perhaps it is the neutrino. But who know? There are a couple hundred known subatomic particles, any of them might be an emission of great penetration, and I have never even seen the spelling for most of them.
What does ionising power mean?
Ionizing power refers to the ability of a radiation or particle to ionize atoms or molecules by stripping off electrons from them. This process generates charged particles and free radicals, which can disrupt cellular structures and lead to biological damage. Materials with higher ionizing power are more harmful to living organisms.
The Earth's ionosphere partially blocks which form of electromagnetic radiation?
Ultraviolet radiation is blocked by the ozone layer in the lower stratosphere. It blocks 97â??99% of the Sun's UV rays, preventing them from damaging life on the surface of the planet.
What is the smallest particle an atom can be divided into?
Atoms are made of protons, electrons, and neutrons, which are themselves made up of quarks. However, scientists don't have the ability to just 'cut' an atom into smaller pieces, even though it's made of such.
particle accelerator
Is strong nuclear force is strongest of all 4 fundamental forces?
The strong interaction (strong force) and weak interaction (weak force) as well as the electromagnetic force are fundamental forces. The only one "missing" from this lineup is gravity, the fourth fundamental force in the universe.
How did Hans Geiger discover the atomic nucleus?
Hans Geiger, by name of Johannes Wilhelm Geiger, was born in Neustadt-an-der-Haardt, German, on September 30, 1882. Being a German nuclear physicist, Geiger was the inventor of the Geiger counter which was a detector for radioactivity.
Geiger was awarded the Ph.D. by the University of Erlangen in 1906. Being one of the most valuable collaborator of Ernest Rutherford, Geiger worked in Manchester England with Rutherford from 1906 to 1912. Eventually, in 1911, they devised the first version of the Geiger counter to count the number of alpha particles and other ionising radiation. With the aid of other radiation detectors, he used his counter in early experiments that led to the identification of the alpha particles as the nucleus of the helium atom. They also demonstrated that alpha-particles had two units of charge. It was also observed that occasionally alpha-particles are deflected through large angles when thy strike a thin leaf of gold or silver. This scattering experiment was essential in leading to Rutherford's nuclear theory of the atom, made in 1912, that in any atom, the nucleus occupies a very small volume at the centre.
Many theories of radioactivity were also found and demonstrated by Geiger. In 1910, with Rutherford, they showed that two alpha-particles are emitted in the radioactive decay of uranium and in 1912, with J. M. Nuttal, they proved that this is caused by two uranium isotopes. The Geiger-Nuttall rule of 1911, states that the relationship is linear between the logarithm of the range of alpha-particles and the radioactive time constant, which is involved in the rate of decay of emitting nucleus.
Geiger returned to Germany in 1914. During World War I, he served as an artillery officer in German Army. With Walther Bothe, Geiger devised the technique of coincidence counting and used it in 1924 to clarify the detail of the Compton effect. In the next year, at the University of Kiel, where he was offered a professional appointments, he and Walther Müller improved the sensitivity, performance, and durability of the particle counter which Geiger made before. Named the Geiger- Müller counter (picture shown on the left) in the present-day, the improved device detects not only alpha particles but other types of ionising radiation such as beta particles (electrons) and ionising electromagnetic photon.
Geiger also participated in Germany's abortive attempt to develop an atomic bomb during World War II. He died in Berlin on September 24, 1945.
The term half-life is one we apply to radioactive materials to talk about how quickly they decay. The half-life is the time it takes for half of a given sample of the unstable substance (whatever it may be) to undergo radioacitve decay. The way it works is quite simple, and though the numbers are statistically derived, they are pretty darn accurate. Let's look more closely.
A sample of a radioactive nuclide (radiocarbon or carbon-14 for example) is made up of atoms with unstable nuclei. These nuclei will "fall apart" (decay radioactively) spontaneously, and each one can decay at any moment. What we don't know is when a givennucleus will decay. But if we watch a large number of these nuclei, we can count the decays across a period of time, and then come up with a rate of decay. We convert this into the length of time it takes for half of the given sample to decay. This length of time will be the half-life for that particular radionuclide. Each radionuclide has a unique half-life, as you might expect.
A half-life is based on the decay rate of a particular isotope of a given element. It is a natural characteristic of that given radionuclide, and it is the amount of time it takes for a sample of it to decay to the point where half of it is gone and half the original sample remains. Use the links below to related questions to learn a little more.
Drugs also have a half-life. Some drugs stay longer in the system, some disapate quickly. If the doctor wants to maintain a level of the drug in the body it maybe necessary to prescribe a dose every several hours or once or twice a day depending on how long the half-life of the drug is.
From Wikipedia..
The duration of action of a drug is known as its half life. This is the period of time required for the concentration or amount of drug in the body to be reduced by one-half. We usually consider the half life of a drug in relation to the amount of the drug in plasma. A drug's plasma half-life depends on how quickly the drug is eliminated from the plasma.
Half life is the time duration in which half of the radioactive element would undergo decay. Suppose just for understanding purpose let us say half life is 3 hours.
Say we have 4096 atoms fresh
Now after 3 hours half of this ie 2048 have got decayed
In the next 3 hours ie totally in 6 hours half of this ie 1024 would get decayed and 1024 would remain
Now in the next 3 hours half of this ie 512 would get decayed
In the next 3 hours 256 and then 128, 64, 32, 16, 8 and so on
But in reality there would millions of atoms.
A Libby half-life is another name for the half-life of carbon-14, used in carbon dating, which was a process invented by Willard Libby and his colleagues. The numerical value of a Libby half-life is 5568±30 years.
Fission and fusion is an example of what kind of energy?
One type of atom (element or isotope) is converted to another. This is called nuclear reaction.
Why do US uses nuclear power plants?
The US uses nuclear power plants because they provide a stable and reliable source of energy that generates a large amount of electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions. Nuclear power also helps reduce dependence on fossil fuels and can contribute to energy security.
Nuclear energy is produced by the release of heat from unstable elements such as Uranium. The energy is harnessed by using the energy to heat water. The radioactive water is than pumped through a heat exchanger where the 'dirty water' is used to heat 'clean' water. The clean water can then be used to drive turbines and other forms of engine.
What does a nuclear fission diagram look like?
A nuclear fission diagram typically shows a uranium or plutonium nucleus being bombarded by a neutron, splitting into two smaller nuclei, releasing additional neutrons and a significant amount of energy. The diagram helps illustrate the process of nuclear fission and its potential for generating power in a controlled manner in nuclear reactors.
Types of radiant energy in order of their wavelengths?
Longest to shortest
1)radio waves
2)microwaves
3)visible light
4)ultraviolet radiation
5)infrared radiation
6)x-rays
7)gamma rays
The rate of decay of a radioactive element is measured by its what?
The rate of decay of a radioactive element is measured by its half-life, which is the time it takes for half of a sample of the element to decay. This measurement is used to determine the stability or instability of the element and to predict its rate of decay over time.
To calculate the time it takes for 31.0 g of Am-241 to decay, you can use the radioactive decay formula. First, find the decay constant (λ) by ln(2) / half-life. Once you have the decay constant, you can use the formula N(t) = N0 * e^(-λt), where N(t) is the remaining amount of the isotope, N0 is the initial amount, and t is the time. Solve for t to find how long it will take for 31.0 g of Am-241 to decay.
What are neutral pions made of?
Neutral pions are composed of a quark-antiquark pair, specifically an up quark and an anti-up quark or a down quark and an anti-down quark. They are the lightest mesons and are unstable, decaying rapidly into two photons.
Enriched uranium is uranium that has had its U-235 isotope content elevated above what it would be when we refine natural uranium after recovering the metal from ore.
We know that U-235 is the desired fissionable isotope of uranium, but it is the isotope U-238 that is present in over 99% of all the naturally occurring uranium we mine and recover. We have to put the uranium through a process to separate the U-235 from the U-238. As these two isotopes are chemically identical, it takes a mechanical process to separate them. After running the uranium through a process designed to take advantage of the difference in the mass of the two atoms, the industry will recover uranium with a very high percentage of the U-235 isotope, and this is called enriched uranium.
If uranium is enriched to a point where there is up to about 20% U-235, it is low-enriched uranium. Above that 20% mark we see highly enriched uranium. Above about 85%, we call the product weapons-grade uranium. A link can be found below for more information.
In the reaction where nitrogen-14 absorbs an alpha particle, we see the formation of oxygen-17 and a proton. Here's how it looks: 714N + 24He => 11P + 817O Note that the alpha particle is written the way it is because we know that an alpha particle is a helium-4 nucleus. Simple and easy. The equation is balanced, and you can observe that by adding the subscript and the superscript numerals on one side and checking them against those on the other side. In this case, 7 + 2 = 1 + 8, and 14 + 4 = 1 + 17.
