Nuclear bombardment

Numerous nuclear transformations have been induced by processes in which atoms have been bombarded with neutrons, protons, deuterium, carbon atoms and ions. 

In 1934, scientists discovered that when they bombarded natural bismuth (209Bi) with neutrons, 210Bi, the parent of polonium, was obtained. Milligram amounts of polonium may now be prepared this way, by using the high neutron fluxes of nuclear reactors. 

In 1964, workers at the Joint Nuclear Research Institute at Dubna (U.S.S.R.) bombarded plutonium with accelerated 113 to 115 MeV neon ions. By measuring fission tracks in a special glass with a microscope, they detected an isotope that decays by spontaneous fission. They suggested that this isotope, which had a half-life of 0.3 +/- 0.1 s might be 260-104, produced by the following reaction 242Pu + 22Ne —> 104 +4n. 

In 1967 G.N. Flerov reported that a Soviet team working at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research at Dubna may have produced a few atoms of 260-105 and 261-105 by bombarding 243Am with 22Ne. The evidence was based on time-coincidence measurements of alpha energies. 

There are two further effects on K emission XRF which become more important with decreasing nuclear charge. One is the appearance of weak satellite transitions, to lower wavelengths of the main transitions, occurring in the small proportion of doubly ionized atoms which may be produced by the initial X-ray bombardment. The other is a tendency for some transitions to be broadened into bands, rather than the usual sharp lines, due to the... 

Radiation Damage. It has been known for many years that bombardment of a crystal with energetic (keV to MeV) heavy ions produces regions of lattice disorder. An implanted ion entering a soHd with an initial kinetic energy of 100 keV comes to rest in the time scale of about 10 due to both electronic and nuclear coUisions. As an ion slows down and comes to rest in a crystal, it makes a number of coUisions with the lattice atoms. In these coUisions, sufficient energy may be transferred from the ion to displace an atom from its lattice site. Lattice atoms which are displaced by an incident ion are caUed primary knock-on atoms (PKA). A PKA can in turn displace other atoms, secondary knock-ons, etc. This process creates a cascade of atomic coUisions and is coUectively referred to as the coUision, or displacement, cascade. The disorder can be directiy observed by techniques sensitive to lattice stmcture, such as electron-transmission microscopy, MeV-particle channeling, and electron diffraction. 

Neutron-rich lanthanide isotopes occur in the fission of uranium or plutonium and ate separated during the reprocessing of nuclear fuel wastes (see Nuclearreactors). Lanthanide isotopes can be produced by neutron bombardment, by radioactive decay of neighboring atoms, and by nuclear reactions in accelerators where the rate earths ate bombarded with charged particles. The rare-earth content of solid samples can be determined by neutron... 

Radioactivity occurs naturally in earth minerals containing uranium and thorium. It also results from two principal processes arising from bombardment of atomic nuclei by particles such as neutrons, ie, activation and fission. Activation involves the absorption of a neutron by a stable nucleus to form an unstable nucleus. An example is the neutron reaction of a neutron and cobalt-59 to yield cobalt-60 [10198 0-0] Co, a 5.26-yr half-life gamma-ray emitter. Another is the absorption of a neutron by uranium-238 [24678-82-8] to produce plutonium-239 [15117 8-5], Pu, as occurs in the fuel of a nuclear... 

A.ccekrator-Producedlsotopes. Particle accelerators cause nuclear reactions by bombarding target materials, which are often enriched in a particular stable isotope, with rapidly moving protons, deuterons, tritons, or electrons. Proton reactions are most commonly used for production purposes. 

Physical Chemical Characterization. Thiamine, its derivatives, and its degradation products have been fully characterized by spectroscopic methods (9,10). The ultraviolet spectmm of thiamine shows pH-dependent maxima (11). H, and nuclear magnetic resonance spectra show protonation occurs at the 1-nitrogen, and not the 4-amino position (12—14). The H spectmm in D2O shows no resonance for the thiazole 2-hydrogen, as this is acidic and readily exchanged via formation of the thiazole yUd (13) an important intermediate in the biochemical functions of thiamine. Recent work has revised the piC values for the two ionization reactions to 4.8 and 18 respectively (9,10,15). The mass spectmm of thiamine hydrochloride shows no molecular ion under standard electron impact ionization conditions, but fast atom bombardment and chemical ionization allow observation of both an intense peak for the patent cation and its major fragmentation ion, the pyrimidinylmethyl cation (16). 

Tritium was first prepared in the Cavendish Laboratory by Rutherford, OHphant, and Harteck in 1934 (2,3) by the bombardment of deuterophosphoric acid using fast deuterons. The D—D nuclear reaction produced tritium ( D-H D — -H energy), but also produced some He by a... 

A beam of charged particles (an ion beam) with an energy from a few hundred keV to several MeV is produced in an accelerator and bombards a sample. Nuclear reactions with low-Z nuclei in the sample are induced by this ion beam. Products of these reactions (typically p, d, t, He, a particles, and y rays) are detected, producing a spectrum of particle yield versus energy. Many (p, a) reactions have energies that are too low for efficient detection. In these cases, the associated y rays are detected instead. Important examples are ... 

In the early years of this century the periodic table ended with element 92 but, with J. Chadwick s discovery of the neutron in 1932 and the realization that neutron-capture by a heavy atom is frequently followed by j6 emission yielding the next higher element, the synthesis of new elements became an exciting possibility. E. Fermi and others were quick to attempt the synthesis of element 93 by neutron bombardment of but it gradually became evident that the main result of the process was not the production of element 93 but nuclear fission, which produces lighter elements. However, in 1940, E. M. McMillan and P. H. Abelson in Berkeley, California, were able to identify, along with the fission products, a short-lived isotope of... 

Since the radioactive half-lives of the known transuranium elements and their resistance to spontaneous fission decrease with increase in atomic number, the outlook for the synthesis of further elements might appear increasingly bleak. However, theoretical calculations of nuclear stabilities, based on the concept of closed nucleon shells (p. 13) suggest the existence of an island of stability around Z= 114 and N= 184. Attention has therefore been directed towards the synthesis of element 114 (a congenor of Pb in Group 14 and adjacent superheavy elements, by bombardment of heavy nuclides with a wide range of heavy ions, but so far without success. 

Apart from g Pu, which is a nuclear fuel and explosive, the transuranium elements have in the past been produced mainly for research purposes. A number of specialized applications, however, have led to more widespread uses. I Pu (produced by neutron bombardment of I Np to form 93 Np which decays by jS-emission to 94Pu) is a compact heat source (0.56 Wg as it decays by a-emission) which, in conjunction with PbTe thermoelectric elements, for instance, provides a stable and totally reliable source of electricity with no moving parts. It has been... 

The first (inconclusive) work bearing on the synthesis of element 104 was published by the Dubna group in 1964. However, the crucial Dubna evidence (1969-70) for the production of element 104 by bombardment of 94PU with loNe came after the development of a sophisticated method for rapid in situ chlorination of the product atoms followed by their gas-chromatographic separation on an atom-by-atom basis. This was a heroic enterprise which combined cyclotron nuclear physics and chemical separations. As we have seen, the actinide series of elements ends with 103 Lr. The next element should be in Group 4 of the transition elements, i.e. a heavier congenor of Ti, Zr and Hf. As such it would be expected to have a chloride... 

The nucleus of an atom consists of protons and neutrons that are bound together by a nuclear force. Neutrons and protons are rearranged in a nuclear reaction in a manner somewhat akin to rearrang ing atoms in a chemical reaction. The nuclear reaction liberating energy in a nuclear power plant is called nuclear fission. The word fission is derived from fissure, which means a crack or a separation. A nucleus is separated (fissioned) into two major parts by bombardment with a neutron. 

In 1938 Niels Bohr had brought the astounding news from Europe that the radiochemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin had conclusively demonstrated that one of the products of the bom-bardmeiit of uranium by neutrons was barium, with atomic number 56, in the middle of the periodic table of elements. He also announced that in Stockholm Lise Meitner and her nephew Otto Frisch had proposed a theory to explain what they called nuclear fission, the splitting of a uranium nucleus under neutron bombardment into two pieces, each with a mass roughly equal to half the mass of the uranium nucleus. The products of Fermi s neutron bombardment of uranium back in Rome had therefore not been transuranic elements, but radioactive isotopes of known elements from the middle of the periodic table. 

Nuclear fission is a process in which a heavy nucleus—usually one with a nucleon number of two hundred or more—separates into two nuclei. Usually the division liberates neutrons and electromagnetic radiation and releases a substantial amount of energy. The discoveiyi of nuclear fission is credited to Otto I lahn and Fritz Strassman. In the process of bombarding uranium with neutrons in the late 1930s, they detected several nuclear products of significantly smaller mass than uranium, one of which was identified as Ba. The theorectical underpinnings that exist to this day for nuclear fission were proposed by Lise Meitner and Otto Frisch. Shortly after Hahn and Strassman s discovery. 

Uranium-235 and U-238 behave differently in the presence of a controlled nuclear reaction. Uranium-235 is naturally fissile. A fissile element is one that splits when bombarded by a neutron during a controlled process of nuclear fission (like that which occurs in a nuclear reactor). Uranium-235 is the only naturally fissile isotope of uranium. Uranium-238 is fertile. A fertile element is one that is not itself fissile, but one that can produce a fissile element. When a U-238 atom is struck by a neutron, it likely will absorb the neutron to form U-239. Through spontaneous radioactive decay, the U-239 will turn into plutonium (Pu-239). This new isotope of plutonium is fissile, and if struck by a neutron, will likely split. 

Not all of the Pu-239 will fission during the fuel cycle in a nuclear reactor. Some of the plutonium will not experience neutron bombardment sufficient to cause fission. Other plutonium atoms will absorb one or more neutrons and become higher numbered isotopes of plutonium, such as Pu-240, Pu-241, etc. Plutonium comprises just over 1 percent of nuclear reactor spent fuel—the fuel removed from the... 

Radioactivity The ability possessed by some natural and synthetic isotopes to undergo nuclear transformation to other isotopes, 513 applications, 516-518 biological effects, 528-529 bombardment reactions, 514-516 diagnostic uses, 516t discovery of, 517 modes of decay, 513-514 nuclear stability and, 29-30 rate of decay, 518-520,531q Radium, 521-522 Radon, 528 Ramsay, William, 190 Random polymer 613-614 Randomness factor, 452-453 Raoult s law A relation between the vapor pressure (P) of a component of a solution and that of the pure component (P°) at the same temperature P — XP°, where X is the mole fraction, 268... 

All of the isotopes of the element with atomic number 87 are radioactive. Hence, it is not found in nature. Yet, prior to its preparation by nuclear bombardment, chemists were confident they knew the chemical reactions this element would show. Explain. What predictions about this element would you make ... 

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