June 2, 2014: Nuclear Chemistry!

- Applications of Nuclear Chemistry:!

- Smoke detectors, Geiger Counters, Nuclear Bombs, Nuclear Power and Radioactive dating!
- Symbols: A is the Mass number, Z is the Atomic number!

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- Radioactive decay: Usually a spontaneous reaction and follows first order kinetics!
- Alpha decay, beta decay, positron decay, gamma decay, electron capture!
- Alpha decay is the release of a helium atom!
- Applications: Fire detectors and natures helium production!
- Beta decay emits electron!
- Positron Decay is the ejection of a positron and lost of electron!
- Gamma Emission is high energy!
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June 4, 2014: Nuclear Chemistry!
- Nuclear energy is often used: The use of nuclear fission vs nuclear fusion!
- Spontaneous Fission!
- Occurs with Z = 90+!
- Typically, it is a cascading reaction of a neutron colliding with a radioactive atom!
- Radioactive waste is produced that can be harmful due to the possibility of turning it into
weapons of mass destruction!
- Nuclear reactors drawbacks:!
- Need to control the reaction; require a large cooling system!
- Nuclear Fusion: Combines small nuclei into more stable large atoms!
- No radioactive waste!
- More energy generated!
- Fuel is 2H which is very cheap and a clear example is the Sun!
- However, no methods are currently efficient to maintain this type of reaction!
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June 6, 2014: Nuclear Stability and Binding Energy!
- General trends in stability:!
- Radioactive decay changes N/Z to increase stability!
- Nuclei with even # of protons and neutrons are more stable than odd #s!
- Magic numbers: 2, 8, 20, 28, 50, 82, 126!
- Einstein Mass-Energy Relationship: E = mc2!
- Nuclear Decay Kinetics!
- Carbon dating of materials!
- Limited to <60,000 years because there may be too little isotope left