NUCLEAR
CHEMISTRY
Nuclear Chemistry
• is the study of reactions involving changes in atomic nuclei. This branch of
chemistry began with the discovery of natural radioactivity by Antoine
Becquerel and grew as a result of subsequent investigations by Pierre and
Marie Curie and many others.
• With the application in the manufacture of atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs,
and neutron bombs, the peaceful use of nuclear energy has become
controversial because of safety concerns about nuclear power plants and also
because of problems with radioactive waste disposal.
The Nature of Nuclear Reactions
• With the exception of hydrogen (1H), all nuclei contain two kinds
of fundamental particles, called protons and neutrons. Some nuclei
are unstable; they emit particles and/or electromagnetic radiation
spontaneously – RADIOACTIVITY
• Another type of radioactivity, known as nuclear transmutation,
results from the bombardment of nuclei by neutrons, protons, or
other nuclei.
IONIZING & NON-IONIZING RADIATION
• Non-ionizing radiation is a form of radiation with less energy
than ionizing radiation. Unlike ionizing radiation, non-ionizing
radiation does not remove electrons from atoms or molecules of
materials that include air, water, and living tissue.
• Ionizing radiation is a form of energy that acts by removing
electrons from atoms and molecules of materials that include air,
water, and living tissue. Ionizing radiation can travel unseen and
pass through these materials.
Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/radiation/ionizing_radiation.html#:~:text=Non%2Dionizing%20radiation%20is%20a,
%2C%20water%2C%20and%20living%20tissue.
ISOTOPES
ISOBARS
ISOTONES
Nuclear Transmutation
Source: https://courses.lumenlearning.com/chemistryformajors/chapter/transmutation-and-nuclear-
energy-2/
Types of Radioactive Decay
• An alpha particle, or a-particle, is a helium nucleus. Alpha-particle
production is a very common mode of decay for heavy radioactive
nuclides.
• The most common decay process in which the mass number of the
decaying nucleus remains constant is b-particle production.
Types of Radioactive Decay
• A gamma ray, or g-ray, refers to a high-energy photon. Frequently, g-ray
production accompanies nuclear decays and particle reactions
• Positron production occurs for nuclides that are below the zone of
stability (those nuclides whose neutron/proton ratios are too small). The
positron is a particle with the same mass as the electron but opposite
charge.
Types of Radioactive Decay
• Electron capture is a process in which one of the inner-orbital electrons is
captured by the nucleus,
Balancing Nuclear Equations
• In balancing any nuclear equation, we observe the following rules:
• The total number of protons plus neutrons in the products and in the reactants must be
the same (conservation of mass number).
• The total number of nuclear charges in the products and in the reactants must be the
same (conservation of atomic number).
Balance the ff. nuclear reactions:
Balance the ff. nuclear reactions:
Fill in the blanks
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Nuclear Stability
The principal factor that determines whether a
nucleus is stable is the neutron-to- proton ratio
(n/p). For stable atoms of elements having low
atomic number, the n/p value is close to 1. As
the atomic number increases, the neutron-to-
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proton ratios of the stable nuclei become greater
than 1.
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Nuclear Stability
The following rules are useful in predicting nuclear stability:
1. Nuclei that contain 2, 8, 20, 50, 82, or 126 protons or neutrons are generally more stable than nuclei that do
not possess these numbers. For example, there are 10 stable isotopes of tin (Sn) with the atomic number 50
and only 2 stable isotopes of antimony (Sb) with the atomic number 51. The numbers 2, 8, 20, 50, 82, and 126
are called magic numbers. The significance of these numbers for nuclear stability is similar to the numbers of
electrons associated with the very stable noble gases (that is, 2, 10, 18, 36, 54, and 86 electrons).
2. Nuclei with even numbers of both protons and neutrons are generally more stable than those with odd
numbers of these particles
3. All isotopes of the elements with atomic numbers higher than 83 are radioactive. All isotopes of
technetium (Tc, Z = 43) and promethium (Pm, Z = 61) are radioactive.
Most radioactive nuclei lie outside this belt. Above
the stability belt, the nuclei have higher neutron-to-
proton ratios than those within the belt (for the same
number of protons). To lower this ratio (and hence
move down toward the belt of stability), these nuclei
undergo the following process, called b-particle
emission
Beta-particle emission leads to an increase in the
number of protons in the nucleus
and a simultaneous decrease in the number of
neutrons. Examples:
Below the stability belt the nuclei have lower
neutron-to-proton ratios than those in the belt (for the
same number of protons). To increase this ratio (and
hence move up toward the belt of stability), these
nuclei either emit a positron or undergo electron
capture
Electron capture is the capture of an electron—
usually a 1s electron—by the nucleus. The captured
electron combines with a proton to form a neutron so
that the atomic number decreases by one while the
mass number remains the same. This process has the
same net effect as positron emission:
Examples:
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Nuclear Binding Energy
• A quantitative measure of nuclear stability is the nuclear binding energy, which is the
energy required to break up a nucleus into its component protons and neutrons. This
quantity represents the conversion of mass to energy that occurs during an exothermic
nuclear reaction.
• The concept of nuclear binding energy evolved from studies of nuclear properties
showing that the masses of nuclei are always less than the sum of the masses of the
nucleons, which is a general term for the protons and neutrons in a nucleus.
• The difference between the mass of an atom and the sum of the masses of its protons,
neutrons, and electrons is called the mass defect. Relativity theory tells us that the loss
in mass shows up as energy (heat) given off to the surroundings.
Nuclear Binding Energy
Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence relationship states that:
Where m is mass and c is the speed of light. (3.0 x108 m/s2)
• To calculate the amount of energy released,
Examples
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Kinetics of Radioactive Decay
• All radioactive decays obey first-order kinetics.
• where l is the first-order rate constant and N is
the number of radioactive nuclei present at time
t. (We use l instead of k for rate constant in
accord with the notation used by nuclear
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scientists.)
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Half-life
During natural radioactive decay, not all
atoms of an element are instantaneously
changed to atoms of another element.
The decay process takes time and there
is value in being able to express the rate
at which a process occurs. A useful
concept is half-life (symbol is t1/2),
which is the time required for half of the
starting material to change or decay
Example
• Problem #1: The half-life of Zn-71 is 2.4 minutes. If one had
100.0 g at the beginning, how many grams would be left after 7.2
minutes has elapsed?
• Problem #2: Pd-100 has a half-life of 3.6 days. If one had 6.02 x
1023 atoms at the start, how many atoms would be present after
20.0 days?
• Problem 3: The half-life of Na-24 is 15.0 h. How long does it take
for 80 percent of a sample of this nuclide to decay.
Try This!
1. If you have 100 grams of a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 10 years:
a. How much of the isotope will you have left after 10 years?
b. How much of the isotope will you have left after 20 years?
c. How many half-lives will occur in 40 years?
2. The half-life of plutonium-239 is 24,300 years. If a nuclear bomb released 8
kg of this isotope, how many years would pass before the amount is reduced to
1 kg?
Dating Based on Radioactive Decay
• Radiocarbon dating
Dating Based on Radioactive Decay
• Using Uranium-238
Dating Based on Radioactive Decay
• Using Potassium-40 Isotopes
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• Particle accelerators made it possible to
The Transuranium Elements synthesize the so-called transuranium
elements, elements with atomic numbers
greater than 92. Neptunium (Z = 93) was
first prepared in 1940. Since then, 23
other transuranium elements have been
synthesized. All isotopes of these
elements are radioactive.
• Although light elements are generally not
radioactive, they can be made so by
bombarding their nuclei with appropriate
particles.
• A particle accelerator uses electric and
magnetic fields to increase the kinetic
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energy of charged species so that a
reaction will occur
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Nuclear Fission
• Nuclear fission is the process in which a heavy nucleus (mass number .
200) divides to form smaller nuclei of intermediate mass and one or more
neutrons. Because the heavy nucleus is less stable than its products
process releases a large amount of energy.
Nuclear Chain Reaction
Nuclear chain reaction, which is a self-sustaining
sequence of nuclear fission reactions.
The neutrons generated during the initial stages of fission
can induce fission in other uranium-235 nuclei, which in
turn produce more neutrons, and so on. In less than a
second, the reaction can become uncontrollable, liberating
a tremendous amount of heat to the surroundings.
Critical mass is the minimum mass of fissionable material
required to generate a self-sustaining nuclear chain
reaction
Applications
• Atomic Bomb
an atomic bomb is never assembled with the critical mass already
present. Instead, the critical mass is formed by using a conventional
explosive, such as TNT, to force the fissionable sections together
Uranium-235 was the fissionable material in the bomb dropped on
Hiroshima, Japan, on August 6, 1945. Plutonium-239 was used in the
bomb exploded over Nagasaki 3 days later. The fission reactions
generated were similar in these two cases, as was the extent of the
destruction.
Applications
Nuclear Reactors
• Light Water Reactors
An important aspect of the fission process is the speed of the neutrons. Slow
neutrons split uranium-235 nuclei more efficiently than do fast ones. Because
fission reactions are highly exothermic, the neutrons produced usually move at
high velocities. For greater efficiency they must be slowed down before they can
be used to induce nuclear disintegration. To accomplish this goal, scientists use
moderators, which are substances that can reduce the kinetic energy of
neutrons. A good moderator must satisfy several requirements: It should be
nontoxic and inexpensive (as very large quantities of it are necessary); and it
should resist conversion into a radio- active substance by neutron bombardment.
Furthermore, it is advantageous for the moderator to be a fluid so that it can also
be used as a coolant. No substance fulfills all these requirements, although water
comes closer than many others that have been considered.
Applications
• Heavy Water Reactors
Another type of nuclear reactor uses D2O, or heavy water, as the moderator, rather than H2O.
Deuterium absorbs neutrons much less efficiently than does ordinary hydrogen. Because fewer
neutrons are absorbed, the reactor is more efficient and does not require enriched uranium.
The main advantage of a heavy water reactor is that it eliminates the need for building
expensive uranium enrichment facilities.
• Breeder Reactors
A breeder reactor uses uranium fuel, but unlike a conventional nuclear reactor, it produces
more fissionable materials than it uses.
Nuclear Fusion
• In contrast to the nuclear fission process, nuclear fusion, the
combining of small nuclei into larger ones
• his behavior suggests that if two light nuclei combine or fuse
together to form a larger, more stable nucleus, an appreciable
amount of energy will be released in the process. This is the basis
for ongoing research into the harnessing of nuclear fusion for the
production of energy.
• Nuclear fusion occurs constantly in the sun. The sun is made up
mostly of hydro- gen and helium. In its interior, where temperatures
reach about 15 million degrees Celsius, the following fusion
reactions are believed to take place:
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Nuclear Fusion
• In contrast to the fission process, nuclear fusion looks like a
very promising energy source, at least “on paper.” Although
thermal pollution would be a problem, fusion has the following
advantages: (1) The fuels are cheap and almost inexhaustible
and (2) the process produces little radioactive waste.
• The basic problem is finding a way to hold the nuclei together
long enough, and at the appropriate temperature, for fusion to
occur. At temperatures of about 100 million degrees Celsius,
molecules cannot exist, and most or all of the atoms are stripped
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of their electrons. This state of matter, a gaseous mixture of
positive ions and electrons, is called plasma.
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Biological Effects of Radiation
• Somatic damage is damage to the organism itself, resulting in sickness or
death. The effects may appear almost immediately if a massive dose of
radiation is received; for smaller doses, damage may appear years later,
usually in the form of cancer.
• Genetic damage is damage to the genetic machinery, which produces
malfunctions in the offspring of the organism.
Factors:
• The energy of the radiation.
• The penetrating ability of the radiation
• The ionizing ability of the radiation.
• The chemical properties of the radiation source.
Chernobyl Accident 1986
• In the early morning of April 24, 1986, the
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded
during a routine maintenance check. The
accident, which saw the Chernobyl 4 reactor
destroyed, is what many consider the worst
nuclear disaster in history.
• The Chernobyl explosion was the result of a
“flawed Soviet reactor design”, operated by
“inadequately trained personnel”, according to
the World Nuclear Association.
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• While there is rough agreement that a total of
Chernobyl Accident either 31 or 54 people died from blast trauma or
1986 acute radiation syndrome (ARS) as a direct result
of the disaster, there is considerable debate
concerning the accurate number of deaths due to
the disaster’s long-term health effects.
• Long-term death estimates range from 4,000 (per
the 2005 and 2006 conclusions of a joint
consortium of the United Nations and the
governments of Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia), to
more than 93,000.
• the Soviet Union cornered off and isolated the
disaster area—a piece of land measuring 1,040
square miles, and declared it to be 'the exclusion
zone,' now considered the most severely affected
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area following the disaster. It was decreed that
nobody could enter the exclusion zone, apart from
a few government officials, researchers and
scientists.
• Sources: https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/horrifying-photos-of-chernobyl-and-its-aftermath/46/
• https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2019/06/chernobyl-disaster-photos-1986/590878/
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