P114 - Workshop/Recitation Module 12
Nuclear Physics
- Calculate the binding energy/nucleon for 4He. Prove that it would require a net input of energy to transform 4He into (2) 2H nuclei. How much energy would it require?
- What is a half-life?
- What is a nuclear decay constant?
- What is an isotope?
- Derive the relation between the half-life and the nuclear decay constant.
- Roughly what is the radius of a germanium nucleus (a=70)?
- In terms of your health and assuming substances with similar activities (what is meant by activity?) … would it be better to (a) sit on a gamma source while drinking water laced with an alpha source or (b) sit on an alpha source while drinking water laced with a gamma source??
- What other things would determine the ultimate damage to your health if you had to do one of the above?
- Complete the following (a) 27Si -> 27Al + ?; (b) 228U-> a
+ ? ;
(c) 24Na -> e- + ?; (d) 24Na* -> 24Na +?.
- What are the uses of "labeling compounds" in medicine and biological research? Labeling is the process of substituting a naturally radioactive isotope in place of a normally stable isotope in a particular position in a chemical compound. If
- A certain internal organ absorbs compound X. If you wanted to study the rate at which the organ assimilates compound X, would you label the compound X material with a gamma source or an alpha source? If you wanted to destroy the internal organ (because it is cancerous), would you label the compound X with an alpha or gamma source?
- A blood sample labeled with a radioactive material decays at a rate of 548 per second at t=0. At t=48 minutes, the counting rate has fallen to 213 per second (a) What is the half-life of the sample? What it its decay constant? (c) What will be the counting rate at t=125 minutes?