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Explore the concepts of balancing nuclear equations, conservation laws, natural and artificial transmutations, accelerators, fission, fusion, and more in this comprehensive guide.
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Balancing Nuclear Equations • Conservation of Atomic Number (subscript) • Conservation of Atomic Mass (superscript)
Balancing Nuclear Equations 16N 0e + 16O -1 7 8 Conservation of mass number: 16 = 0 + 16 Conservation of atomic number: 7 = -1 + 8
Natural Transmutation • 1 term on the reactant side • Original isotope • 2 terms on the product side • Emitted Particle • New Isotope Happens all by itself. Not affected by anything in the environment.
Natural Transmutation 16N 0e + 16O 7 -1 8 2 terms on product side 1 term on reactant side
Artificial Transmutation • We cause it to happen by smashing particles into one another. • 2 terms on the reactant side. • Original Isotope • Particle that hit it: neutron, proton, or -particle • Product side usually has 2 terms.
Artificial Transmutation 27Al + 4He 30P + 1n 13 2 15 0 Original isotope or target nucleus “Bullet”
Bombarding with Protons, • Protons and -particles have positive charge and mass. They can do some damage when they hit the target nucleus. • Protons and -particles have to be accelerated to high speeds to overcome repulsive forces. (The nucleus they are aiming for is also positive.) Use magnetic and electric fields to accelerate them.
What is an accelerator? • An accelerator consists of a vacuum chamber, usually a long pipe, surrounded by vacuum pumps, magnets, radio-frequency cavities, high voltage instruments and electronic circuits. • Inside the pipe, particles are accelerated to very high speeds & smashed into each other.
Neutron Capture • Neutrons don’t have to be accelerated. They’re neutral so they aren’t repelled by a positive nucleus. • Don’t need high K.E. to overcome repulsive forces. • It’s a good thing – we can’t accelerate neutrons.
Artificial Transmutation 27Al + 4He 30P + 1n All of these equations have 2 reactants! 2 15 0 13 14N + 4He 17O + 1H 1 2 8 7 75As + 4He 78Br + 1n 2 35 0 33 37Cl + 1n 38Cl 17 0 17
Fission Reaction • Involves splitting a heavy nucleus into 2 lighter nuclei.
Fission • Involves splitting a heavy nucleus into 2 lighter nuclei. • Reactant side has 2 terms: • 1 heavy isotope, U-235 or Pu-239 • Bombarding particle – usually a neutron • Product side has at least 2 terms: • 2 medium-weight isotopes • 1 or more neutrons • Huge amount of energy is released. • Fission = Division
Fission 56 0 235U + 1n 91Kr + 142Ba + 31n + energy 0 36 92 235U + 1n 72Zn + 160Sm + 41n + energy 62 0 30 0 92 More than 200 different product isotopes from the fission of U-235 have been identified. A small amount of mass is converted to energy by E = mc2.
Fission Chain Reaction • Requires a critical mass of fissionable isotope. • Controlled – nuclear reactor. • Uncontrolled – bomb. Animation of nuclear reactor
Fusion • Reactant side has 2 small nuclei – H + H or H + He or He + He. • Product side has 1 (still pretty small nucleus) and maybe a particle. • Source of sun’s energy. • 2 nuclei unite. 2H + 3H 4He + 1n + energy 1 1 2 0
FermiLab 4 miles in circumference!
CERN 27 kilometer ring. Particles travel at just below the speed of light. In 10 hrs, the particles make 400 million revolutions of the ring.
SLAC LBL
