Chapter 15

Nuclear Physics

Ze
2e v=0
+ + +
++ + + +
+ +
+

Figure 15.1
An alpha particle on a head-on
collision course with a nucleus of
charge Ze. Because of the Coulomb
repulsion between charges of the
same sign, the alpha particle
approaches to a distance d from the
target nucleus, called the distance of
closest approach.
F I G U R E 15.2 A nucleus can be
modeled as a cluster of tightly packed
spheres, each of which is a nucleon.
 40 40

n–p system p–p system

20 20
U(r ) (MeV)

U(r ) (MeV)

0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 r (fm) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 r (fm)

–20 –20

–40 –40

–60 –60

(a) (b)

F I G U R E 15.3 (a) Potential energy versus separation distance for the neutron – proton system. (b) Potential energy
versus separation distance for the proton – proton system. The difference in the two curves is due to the Coulomb repulsion
in the case of the proton – proton interaction. To display the difference in the curves on this scale, the height of the peak for
the proton – proton curve has been exaggerated by a factor of 10.
 130

120

110

100

90

80
Neutron number, N

70

60
N=Z

50

40

30

20

10 F I G U R E 15.4 Neutron number N versus atomic

number Z for the stable nuclei (blue dots). These nuclei
lie in a narrow band called the line of stability. The
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
dashed line corresponds to the condition N Z.
Atomic number, Z

z
3
I=2

15 h
3 2
2
h

1
2
h

1
–2h

– 32 h

F I G U R E 15.5 A vector model showing

possible orientations of the nuclear spin
angular momentum vector and its projections
3
along the z axis for the case I 2 .
 E max

µ B

∆E = Emax – Emin
ENERGY

Emin
µ
B =0 B >0

F I G U R E 15.6 A nucleus with spin 12 can

occupy one of two energy states when placed in an
external magnetic field. The lower energy state
E min corresponds to the case where the spin is
aligned with the field as much as possible
according to quantum mechanics, and the higher
energy state E max corresponds to the case where
the spin is opposite the field as much as possible.
 Tunable
oscillator
N
Sample

Resonance Electromagnet
signal

Oscilloscope

FIGURE 15.7 Experimental arrangement for

nuclear magnetic resonance. The radio-frequency
magnetic field created by the coil surrounding the sample
and provided by the variable-frequency oscillator is
perpendicular to the constant magnetic field created by the
electromagnet. When the nuclei in the sample meet the
resonance condition, the nuclei absorb energy from the
radio-frequency field of the coil, and this absorption
changes the characteristics of the circuit in which the coil is
included. Most modern NMR spectrometers use
superconducting magnets at fixed field strengths and
operate at frequencies of approximately 200 MHz.
(SBHA/Getty Images)

F I G U R E 15.8A color-enhanced MRI

scan of a human brain.
 12
C
4 20
He Ne
72
9 35
Cl Ge

98 208
Mo Pb 226
Ra
8 23
127
I
Na 62 159
Tb 197
Ni Au
107 238
7 Ag U
19 56
F Fe
6 14
Binding energy per

N
nucleon, MeV

11
5 6 B
Li
9
Be
4

F I G U R E 15.9 Binding energy per

3
nucleon versus mass number for nuclei
that lie along the line of stability in 2
Figure 15.4. Some representative nuclei
appear as blue dots with labels. (Nuclei 1 2
H
to the right of 208Pb are unstable. The
0
curve represents the binding energy for 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240
the most stable isotopes.) Mass number A
 Detector
array

Lead

Radioactive e
source

B in

FIGURE 15.10 The radiation from

radioactive sources can be separated into
three components by using a magnetic field
to deflect the charged particles. The detector
array at the right records the events. The
gamma ray is not deflected by the magnetic
field.
 N(t)

N0

N =N 0e t

1
2 N0

1
4 N0

t
T 1/2 2T 1/2

Figure 15.11
Plot of the exponential decay law for
radioactive nuclei. The vertical axis
represents the number of undecayed
radioactive nuclei present at any time t,
and the horizontal axis is time. The
time T1/2 is the half-life of the sample.
 N

130

125

120

115

110

105

100

95

90

85

80 Z
65 70 75 80

Beta (electron)
Stable
Beta (positron) or
electron capture
Alpha

Figure 15.12
A close-up view of the line of stability
in Figure 15.4 from Z 65 to Z 80.
The blue dots represent stable nuclei
as in Figure 15.4. The other colored
dots represent unstable isotopes
above and below the line of stability,
with the color of the dot indicating
the primary means of decay.
 226 K Ra = 0
88
Ra
p Ra = 0

Before decay

K Rn
Kα
222
Rn α
86
p Rn pα

After decay

Figure 15.13
The alpha decay of radium-226. The
radium nucleus is initially at rest.
After the decay, the radon nucleus has
kinetic energy K Rn and momentum
:
p Rn, and the alpha particle has
:
kinetic energy K and momentum p .
Number of a-particles

Kinetic energy

Figure 15.14
Distribution of alpha particle energies
in a typical alpha decay. The energies
of the alpha particles are discrete.
 U(r)

30 MeV

5 MeV
r
0 R R1

–40 MeV

F I G U R E 15.15 Potential energy

versus separation distance for a system
consisting of an alpha particle and
a daughter nucleus. Classically, the
energy associated with the alpha
particle is not sufficiently large to
overcome the energy barrier and so
the particle should not be able to
escape the nucleus. In reality, the
alpha particle does escape by
tunneling through the barrier.
Number of b-particles

K max

Kinetic energy

Figure 15.16
Distribution of beta particle energies
in a typical beta decay. All energies
are observed up to a maximum value.
Compare this continuous distribution
of energies to the discrete distribution
of alpha particle energies in Figure
15.14.
 14 KC = 0 12 KN = 0
6
C pC = 0 7
N pN = 0

Before decay Before decay

Ke pe K e+ p e+
KN
Electron Positron
14 12
7
N 6
C
pN pC
Antineutrino Neutrino

After decay After decay

pν pν
(a) Kν (b) Kν

Figure 15.17
(a) The beta decay of carbon-14. The final products of the decay are the nitrogen-14 nucleus, an electron and an antineutrino.
(b) The beta decay of nitrogen-12. The final products of the decay are the carbon-12 nucleus, a positron and a neutrino.
 (M. Milner/Corbis SYGMA)

F I G U R E 15.18 (a) A fragment of the

(Corbis SYGMA)

Dead Sea Scrolls, which were discovered in

the caves in the photograph (b). The
packing material of the scrolls was analyzed
(a) (b) by carbon dating to determine their age.
 12 B
5

e–
13.4 MeV
e–
12 C*
ENERGY

4.4 MeV

12C
6

FIGURE 15.19 An energy level

diagram showing the initial nuclear state of
a 12B nucleus and two possible lower-energy
states of the 12C nucleus. The beta decay of
the 12B nucleus can result in either of two
situations, with the 12C nucleus in the
ground state or in the excited state, in
which case the nucleus is denoted as 12C*.
In the latter case, the beta decay to 12C* is
followed by a gamma decay to 12C as the
excited nucleus makes a transition to the
ground state.
 pa

a X
Before reaction

pY pb
Y b
After reaction

FIGURE 15.20 A nuclear reaction.

Before the reaction, an incoming
particle a moves toward a target
nucleus X. After the reaction, the
target nucleus has changed to nucleus
Y and an outgoing particle b moves
away from the reaction site.
235
92 U e

e e e e

e e

207
82 Pb

Figure P15.22