2 Credits Phenomena, Concepts and Principles: Models of the atom (Dalton, Thomson and Rutherford), gold foil experiment,

radioactive decay, half life, conservation of atomic and mass number in alpha, beta and gamma emission reactions, ionising ability, penetration ability and behaviour in a magnetic field.

MODELS OF THE ATOM

Throughout History there have been many ideas about the nature of matter. Many people used to believe that you could just keep cutting up pieces of matter indefinitely into smaller and smaller pieces. The Greek philosopher Democritus was the first person to suggest that matter is made of small indivisible particles. These were named atoms meaning indivisible. This idea was forgotten until the early 18th century when James Dalton revived it. It was thought that everything was made of a small number of building block particles that could not be broken down further. Each element had a different type of atom.

Thomson model:
At the end of the 18th century, JJ Thomson discovered tiny negatively Electrons Solid sphere charge particles he called electrons embedded in of positive that always had the same charge the sphere charge and mass. They had come from atoms which were neutral (had no net charge), so Thomson suggested that an atom was a sphere of positive charge with electrons embedded in it like raisins in a pudding. This was called the PLUM PUDDING model.

Rutherfords Gold Foil Experiment:

Ernest Rutherford was working with Thomson at the Cavendish Laboratory at the start of the 20th century. He set out to discover if Thomsons model was correct. We cant see atoms with our eyes, so Rutherford performed experiments to deduce what atoms were like. Rutherford had recently discovered alpha particles. They are really tiny positively charged particles fired out from some radioactive metals (we now know they are Helium nuclei make up of two protons and two neutrons). His idea was to fire them at atoms and see how they passed through. The Gold Foil Experiment Apparatus Alpha Gold Detector Lead Radioactive particles foil block source

Nuclear Physics

The apparatus contained a lead block with a hole drilled in it. The hole contained a radioactive source that fired out a beam of alpha particles. They passed through the thin gold foil and were detected at different angles by a zinc sulfide detector. Nearly all alpha particles went straight through, but some deviated through small angles, and some bounced straight back. He was stunned by this and described it as like firing cannon balls at tissue paper and seeing them bounce back. Rutherford explained these result by suggesting that atoms are nearly all empty space. He said that there was a very small, dense core, called a nucleus, which carried all the positive charge. (This is so dense that if you could have a nucleus as big as a grain of rice, it would have a mass of about 20 000 tonnes! If you put it on the ground, the earth could not hold it. It would crush its way through soil and rock, down to the core of the Earth!) The negatively charged electrons orbited around the nucleus at a great distance, just as the planets circle the sun. They are kept in orbit by the electrical attraction from the positive nucleus. Most (99.999999% ) of the atom is empty space.

Protons, Neutrons and Electrons

Rutherford thought the nucleus just contained tightly packed protons. There was a problem with his theory because all the protons are positive, and according to the law of electrostatic forces, the protons should repel and separate. What holds them together? At that time it was thought there were only two fundamental forces, Gravity and Electromagnetism. It is now known there is another force called the STRONG force, and it only acts inside the nucleus. It is an attractive force between the protons. (There is one other fundamental force called the weak force, but it is so weak that it does not have much effect.) In 1932, James Chadwick discovered the neutron. It took a long time because neutrons are neutral, and the easiest way to detect particles is because of their charge. Neutrons help hold the nucleus together because they are attracted by protons and other neutrons because of the strong force but dont electrically repel as they are neutrons.

Modern models of the atom

Later in the 20th Century more research on the nature of electrons and other particles lead to the solar system picture of an atom to be thrown out. Physicists now believe that the electrons surround the nucleus in a negatively charged cloud - and occupy many positions around the nucleus at the same time. Atoms are around 10-10 m in radius. Nuclei are around 10-15m in radius.

In the atom
The proton is positively charged, and nearly 2000 times as massive as the electron. The neutron has no charge, and it is just slightly more massive than the proton. The electron is negatively charged and has EXACTLY the same sized charge as the proton.

Nuclear Physics

Nuclear Notation
y The charge number or atomic number (Z) is the number of protons (or the amount of charge) in a nucleus. This is also the same as the number of electrons if the atom is neutral. The nucleon number or mass number (A) is the total number of protons plus neutrons in a nucleus. This indicates the approximate mass of the atom.

e.g. The beryllium atom has a nucleus consisting of four protons and five neutrons. The atomic number: Z = 4 The mass number: A = 9 The symbol for the whole nucleus is written like this: mass number atomic number

Symbol

E.g.

9 4

Be

Isotopes
Not all atoms of a particular element have the same number of neutrons. These various atoms are called isotopes. They behave in the same way chemically because they have the same number of protons and electrons, but different isotopes have different masses and so can have different nuclear reactions E.g. There are three naturally occurring isotopes of Hydrogen. Protium (normal Hydrogen) Deuterium Tritium

1 1

2 1

3 1

Most isotopes do not have special names. They normally are called the element name then the Mass number. E.g. Carbon 14 is a heavy isotope of Carbon with a mass number of 14.

Radioactivity
Radioactivity is when the nucleus of an atom spits out particles or rays. Radioactivity is a type of nuclear reaction. Radioactivity was discovered accidentally by Henri Becquerel in 1896. He was playing around with an element called Radium and found it exposed photographic film that was wrapped in black paper. He realised that some invisible rays or particles were passing through the paper and exposing the film. With some atoms, especially large ones, the nucleus may be unstable. It may be that the nucleus is too big for the strong force to hold it together, the combination of protons and neutrons is slightly wrong for that element, or the nucleus has too much energy to be stable. When this happens, the nucleus is likely to undergo radioactive decay by emitting radiation. Radiation is the ray or particle emitted. There are three common types of radiation. At first scientists didnt know what they were so they named them E (alpha), F (beta) or K (gamma) radiation.

Nuclear Physics

Alpha (E ) Particles Each E -particle contains two protons and two neutrons - essentially it is a helium nucleus. Alpha particles are not very penetrating. This means they get stopped easily. Alpha particles are absorbed by several centimetres of air or several sheets of paper. They travel at up to about 0.1 times the speed of light. (3x10 7 ms-1). E -particles ionise molecules. This means they turn molecules into ions by pulling electrons off them.

4
Alpha particles are written in equations as 2 Beta ( F ) Particles

E as they have 2 protons and 2 neutrons.

Beta particles are high speed electrons fired out of a nucleus. The electron is shot out at very high speed (up to about 0.9 times the speed of light (nearly 3x108 ms-1) F -particles pass easily through paper, but are stopped by a few millimetres of aluminium. F -particles also ionise molecules, but not as strongly as E -particles.

or 1 as they have no protons or Beta particles are written in equations as 1 neutrons so their mass number is zero, but they have a negative charge (opposite to the proton) so their Charge/Atomic number is given as -1. Gamma ( K ) Rays Gamma rays are the third kind of radiation. They are much more penetrating than E or F -particles, but the can be stopped by lead. It is now known that gamma-rays are a type of electromagnetic radiation - just like light but a different wavelength. However, gamma rays come from the nucleus of the atom. Gamma rays usually follow immediately after an E or F -decay. A nucleus often has an energy surplus, it can get rid of it by emitting a Gamma ray. K rays are not charged and so do not ionise molecules very well. Gamma rays have no protons or neutrons and have no charge so they are written in

0 equations as 0

Identifying the type of Radiation

There are two easy ways of identifying types of radiation: Absorption Magnetic Fields

E F K 

Paper Aluminium Lead

E F K

Es are stopped easily by paper, Fs are stopped by an aluminium sheet and you need a couple of centimetres of lead to stopKrays.

Eparticles are positively charged so they feel a force when they are moving through a magnetic field. F particles are negatively charged so they also feel a force, but the force is in the opposite direction. Usually the F curve is smaller than the E curve because electrons are so much lighter than Helium nuclei so their velocity is changed more easily. Krays are essentially light - they have no charge so they are unaffected by magnetic fields.

Nuclear Physics

Nuclear reaction equations

Nuclear reactions can be written as equations, just like chemical reactions, but there are a few key differences. Chemical reactions: The number and type of atoms stay the same (e.g. if you have four carbons on one side of the equation, you need four carbons on the other side). The way the atoms combine to make molecules is different on both sides of the equation. Nuclear reactions: The number and type of atoms WILL CHANGE. Two things stay the same: 1. ATOMIC NUMBER/CHARGE NUMBER is conserved. This is because electric charge cannot disappear. 2. MASS NUMBER/NUCLEON NUMBER is conserved. This is because the number of protons + neutrons stays the same always. There are lots of different types of nuclear reactions. Radioactivity reactions are always DECAYS - this means one nucleus splits into two or more bits. Examples of nuclear decay equations: Alpha decay of Radon 226 into Polonium 222
226 86 222 84

Rn

Po 

4 2

Note that the addition of the A and Z numbers on the right equals the A and Z numbers on the left. Beta decay of Tritium into Helium 3

3 3 0 1 2 1 In beta decay inside the nucleus one of the neutrons has spontaneously turned into a proton and an electron .

H p He F

Gamma ray equations are easy. Note that * means the atom is in an excited state. This means it has too much energy to be stable. 97 97 0 31 31 0

Ga *

Ga  K

Nuclear Physics

Half-life
If you have a radioactive atom, it is impossible to predict exactly when it will decay this is something that is completely random. Some atoms will decay quickly and some atoms live much longer before they decay. Different radioactive atoms will decay at different average rates. The half-life is the time taken for half the sample to decay into something else. This is also the time for the activity to halve. The activity is a measure of how many decays happen per second
initial 1 number

Number of radioactive atoms vs time

Some half lives Polonium-215 Bismith-212 Sodium-24 0.0018 seconds 60.5 seconds 15 hours 3 days 8.07 days 5.26 years 1600 years 5700 years 4.5 billion years

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

Gold - 198 Iodine-131 Cobalt-60 Radium-226 Carbon-14 Uranium-238

time in number of half lives

initial rate
1

Rate of reaction vs time

0 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

time in number of half lives Half lives vary from fractions of a second to billions of years. Carbon-14 has a long lifetime so it can be used to work out the age of ancient artefacts. Gold-198 is used in treating cancerous tumours. The gold is implanted in the tumour and the radiation from it destroys the cancer cells. As it has a 3 day half life, the implanted piece of gold produces hardly any radiation after several weeks and is safe for all cells. Similarly

Nuclear Physics

Iodine -131 is used for thyroid cancer. Patients who have this treatment need to stay away from other people until the activity of the isotope is lessened.

Radio Carbon Dating.

Carbon 12 is the stable and most common isotope of Carbon, but Carbon 14 also exists. This has a half life of 5700 years. In the atmosphere, atoms in air are struck by neutrons from space, creating Carbon 14. So although the Carbon-14 decays, new Carbon-14 is always created in the atmosphere, so the ration of Carbon-14 to Carbon-12 is the atmosphere says fairly constant. Living things get their carbon from the air, so they have the same ratio of C14 to C12 as the atmosphere does. But, when a living thing dies the Carbon 14 decays and no new Carbon 14 enters the dead thing. By measuring the ratio of C14 to C12, the age of the dead tissue can be estimated. Example A sample of wood contains 0.16 g of Carbon 14. How long will it take to reduce by 0.12g? This is when the sample contains 0.04 g which is 25% of the original amount. This will take 2 half lives = 11400 years

Biological Effects of Radiation

Radiation can cause burns similar to thermal burns Radiation can damage cells. It can ionise atoms that then chemically react. It can damage DNA and cause cells to mutate. Genetic defects can be passed on to the children.

Applications
1) Smoke Detectors Most smoke detectors contain a small amount of americium-241, which emits E particles. The E -particles ionise atoms in the air. A small electric current is then able to flow across a gap and it keeps an electronic switch turned off. Smoke in the air absorbs the E -particles and so the electric current is reduced. This reduction in current turns the switch on, which sounds an alarm. 2) Monitoring the thickness of Gladwrap, paper etc. as it is being manufactured.

source

detector

If the sheet is too thick or thin the detector will register more counts than usual, and the apparatus will get adjusted. 3) Radioactive tracers (radioactive elements) can be added to fertilisers so the uptake of the chemical by plants can be monitored 4) Equipment can be sterilized inside sealed bags using gamma rays.

Nuclear Physics

5) Food can be made to last longer by irradiating it to kill bacteria and insects 6) Medical Applications including killing cancer cells and imaging.

Nuclear Physics