Protons radioactive half-lives

Radon-222 also undergoes radioactive decay and has a radioactive half-life of 3.8 days. Radon-220 and -219 have half-lives measured in seconds and are not nearly as abundant as Radon-222. Thus the discussion of radon health effects here centers on Radon-222. Radon-222 decays into radon daughters or progeny, which are radioactive elements. Two of these (polonium-218 and polonium-214) emit alpha particles (high-energy, high-mass particles, each consisting of two protons and... 

The isotope 203Pb is produced by bombardment of thallium with protons in a cyclotron. The radioactive half-life is 52 h and decay is by electron capture. The associated 279-keV gamma ray enables the activity in the lung and other organs of volunteer subjects to be detected by external gamma ray spectrometers (Chamberlain etal., 1975). 

In Chap. 1, we introduced the book with a quote from Albert Einstein (Schilpp 1949), which read in part that classical thermodynamics... is the only physical theory of universal content concerning which I am convinced that, within the framework of the applicability of its basic concepts, it will never be overthrown. An important qualification to this statement is the phrase within the framework of the applicability of its basic concepts. The laws of thermodynamics are based on laboratory-scale experiments. To assume that such laws are applicable to the Universe is a big assumption. However, we have no evidence yet that contradicts this assumption on the scales of problems relevant to life. Moreover, there remain vast cosmological questions with no answers and definitely no understanding of implications even if we knew the answers. For instance, does the proton have a very long but finite radioactive half-life Does the neutrino have a very small but finite mass Is the Universe opened or closed with respect to expansion and gravitational contraction Also, the Universe may not be isolated with respect to matter/energy or it could be isolated and cyclical. 

Tritium is hydrogen of mass number 3, having two neutrons and a proton in its nucleus. It is radioactive (half-life 12.4 years) in common with many isotopes having a large neutron-to-proton ratio, tritium decays with emission of an electron (called a beta ray). Such a decay can be represented by the nuclear equation (see also Chap. 27) ... 

Hydrogen as it occurs in nature is predominantly composed of atoms in which the nucleus is a single proton. In addition, terrestrial hydrogen contains about 0.0156% of deuterium atoms in which the nucleus also contains a neutron, and this is the reason for its variable atomic weight (p. 17). Addition of a second neutron induces instability and tritium is radioactive, emitting low-energy particles with a half-life of 12.33 y. Some characteristic properties of these 3 atoms are given in Table 3.1, and their implications for stable isotope studies, radioactive tracer studies, and nmr spectroscopy are obvious. 

Tritium—The hydrogen isotope with one proton and two neutrons in the nucleus (Symbol 3H). It is radioactive and has a physical half-life of 12.3 years. 

The Sr-82 used in these studies was produced by spallation of a molybdenum target with 800 MeV protons at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF) and radiochemically separated by the Nuclear Chemistry Group at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) (22). The major radionuclidic contaminant in the Sr-82 is Sr-85 which is present in at least 1 1 ratio relative to Sr-82. The actual ratio depends upon the length of time after the production of radioactive strontium. Because of the 65 day half life of Sr-85 and the 25 day half life of Sr-82, the Sr-85 Sr-82 ratio increases with time. Other radionuclides found by the Hammersmith group in the processed Sr-82/85 shipment were Sr-89 ( 1%), Sr-90 ( 0.01%), Co-58 ( 1%) and Rb-84 ( 1%) from (17). 

Decay. The neutron in the free state undergoes radioactive decay. Elaborate experiments by Robson were required to identify the products of the decay and to measure the half-life of the neutron. He showed that the neutron emits a / -particle and becomes a proton. The half-lite was found to be 12.8 minutes. In stable nuclei, neutrons are stable. In radioactive nuclei, decaying by -emission, the neutrons decay with a half-life characteristic of the nuclei of which they arc a part. See also Radioactivity. 

Why do some nuclei undergo radioactive decay while others do not Why, for instance, does a carbon-24 nucleus, with six protons and eight neutrons, spontaneously emit a /3 particle, whereas a carbon-23 nucleus, with six protons and seven neutrons, is stable indefinitely Before answering these questions, it s important to define what we mean by "stable." In the context of nuclear chemistry, we ll use the word stable to refer to isotopes whose half-lives can be measured, even if that half-life is only a fraction of a second. We ll call those isotopes that decay too rapidly for their half-lives to be measured unstable, and those isotopes that do not undergo radioactive decay nonradioactive, or stable indefinitely. 

Radioactivity is the spontaneous emission of radiation from an unstable nucleus. Alpha (a) radiation consists of helium nuclei, small particles containing two protons and two neutrons (fHe). Beta (p) radiation consists of electrons ( e), and gamma (y) radiation consists of high-energy photons that have no mass. Positron emission is the conversion of a proton in the nucleus into a neutron plus an ejected positron, e or /3+, a particle that has the same mass as an electron but an opposite charge. Electron capture is the capture of an inner-shell electron by a proton in the nucleus. The process is accompanied by the emission of y rays and results in the conversion of a proton in the nucleus into a neutron. Every element in the periodic table has at least one radioactive isotope, or radioisotope. Radioactive decay is characterized kinetically by a first-order decay constant and by a half-life, h/2, the time required for the... 

The third force is the "weak nuclear" or "Fermi"4 force (1934), which stabilizes many radioactive particles and the free neutron it explains "beta decay" and positron emission (e.g., the free neutron decays within a half-life of 13 minutes into a proton, an electron, and an electron antineutrino). The weak force has a very narrow range. 

Each element is distinguished by the number of protons in the nucleus (the atomic number). The number of neutrons is usually similar to the number of protons, although the number of neutrons may vary. Atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes. For example, the most common kind of carbon atom has six protons and six neutrons in its nucleus. Its mass number (the sum of the protons and neutrons) is 12, and we write its symbol as 12C. About 1% of carbon atoms have seven neutrons the mass number is 13, written 13C. A very small fraction of carbon atoms have eight neutrons and a mass number of 14. The 14C isotope is radioactive, with a half-life (the time it takes for half of the nuclei to decay) of 5730 years. The predictable decay of 14C is used to determine the age of organic materials up to about 50,000 years old. 

Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937) was born on a farm in New Zealand. In 1895 he placed second in a scholarship competition to attend Cambridge University but was awarded the scholarship when the winner decided to stay home and get married. As a scientist in England, Rutherford did much of the early work on characterizing radioactivity. He named the a and /3 particles and the g ray and coined the term half-life to describe an important attribute of radioactive elements. His experiments on the behavior of a particles striking thin metal foils led him to postulate the nuclear atom. He also invented the name proton for the nucleus of the hydrogen atom. He received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1908. 

All 19 isotopes of einsteinium are radioactive. The most stable is einsteinium-254. Its half life is 275.7 days. Isotopes are two or more forms of an element. Isotopes differ from each other according to their mass number. The number written to the right of the element s name is the mass number. The mass number represents the number of protons plus neutrons in the nucleus of an atom of the element. The number of protons determines the element, but the number of neutrons in the atom of any one element... 

Rutherford s work has made him known as the father of nuclear physics with his research on radioactivity (alpha and beta particles and protons, which he named), and he was the first to describe the concepts of half-life and decay constant. He showed that elements such as uranium transmute (become different elements) through radioactive decay, and he was the first to observe nuclear reactions (split the atom in 1917). In 1908 he received the Nobel Prize in chemistry for his investigations into the disintegration of the elements, and the chemistry of radioactive substances. He was president of the Royal Society (1926-30) and of the Institute of Physics (1931-33) and was decorated with the Order of Merit (1925). He became Lord Rutherford in 1931. 

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