The Foundations of Chemistry

plate. They can burn skin severely but cannot reach internal organs. Alpha particles have low penetrating ability and cannot dam ...

EQUATIONS FOR NUCLEAR REACTIONS In chemicalreactions, atoms in molecules and ions are rearranged, but matter is neither created ...

A positron has the mass of an electron but a positive charge. Positrons are emitted when protons are converted to neutrons. 1 1 ...

Detection by Fluorescence Fluorescentsubstances can absorb high-energy radiation such as gamma rays and subse- quently emit visi ...

RATES OF DECAY AND HALF-LIFE Radionuclides have different stabilities and decay at different rates. Some decay nearly completely ...

In nuclear chemistry, the decay rate is usually expressed in terms of the half-life, t1/2, of the process. This is the amount of ...

Plan We determine the value of the specific rate constant, k, from the given half-life. This value is then used in the first-ord ...

1016 CHAPTER 26: Nuclear Chemistry TABLE 26-4 Emissions and Half-Lives of Members of Natural Radioactive Series* (a)^238 U Serie ...

USES OF RADIONUCLIDES Radionuclides have practical uses because they decay at known rates. Some applications make use of the rad ...

Plan As we did in Example 26-3, we determine the specific rate constant kfrom the known half- life. The time required to reach t ...

ln  A A ^0 kt ln  6 4 . . 0 6 5 4 m m g g (1.54
^10 ^10 y^1 )t ln 1.30(1.54
10 ^10 y^1 )t t or t1.70
109 year ...

The directions of emission of millions of such pairs of gamma rays detected over several minutes allow for a computer reconstruc ...

of a liquid or gas through a pipeline can be monitored by injecting a sample containing a radioactive substance. Leaks in pipeli ...

gap between the dees. The dees are connected to a source of high-frequency alternating current that keeps them oppositely charge ...

In a linear accelerator the particles are accelerated through a series of tubes within an evacuated chamber (Figure 26-9). The o ...

96 42 Mo 2 1 H 88n 97 43 Tc 1 0 n 209 083 Bi 4 2 88n 210 085 At^3 1 0 n 230 090 Th 1 1 p 88n 223 087 Fr^2 4 2 Many hithe ...

NUCLEAR FISSION Isotopes of some elements with atomic numbers above 80 are capable of undergoing fission in which they split int ...

with mass numbersgreater than 250 do this because they are too big to be stable. Most nuclides with mass numbers between 225 and ...

Light Water Reactors Most commercial nuclear power plants in the United States are “light water” reactors, moderated and cooled ...

slows neutrons but does not absorb them all. The next most efficient is “heavy water” (deuterium oxide,^21 H 2 O or^21 D 2 O). T ...