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Welcome to SCIE 150:

The Science of Everything
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Last Class
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Today: Properties of Matter and

Nuclear Physics
How does a materials phase/state relate to its
atoms?

What are some common chemical reactions?

How do the properties of a material relate to its

atoms?

Where does nuclear energy come from?

How do scientists date a material?

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Properties of Matter
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States of Matter

A) Gas B) Liquid C) Solid D) Gas and Liquid

Which takes on the shape of its container?
Which can change volume (can fill its entire container)?
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Gas: Temperature and Pressure

A B
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Plasma
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Changing Phase

And to get to Plasma: Ionization

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Solid/Gas

Ice will always release

some molecules to gas
phase through
sublimation
Especially if the air is
dry

Other molecules will

land on the ice and
stay: deposition
Especially if the air is
humid
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Phase Changes

What phase is most dense?

What phase is most ordered?
What phase is the most heated?
A) Solid B) Liquid C) Gas D) Plasma

Deposition is
Sublimation is
Condensation is
A) Gas to Solid B) Solid to Gas
C) Gas to Liquid D) Liquid to Gas
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Chemical Reactions

For a reaction to occur spontaneously (on its

own), it must release energy
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Swapping electrons: Oxidation and

Reduction

In particular good at oxidation: Oxygen

Has 6 electrons in outer shell, how many more does it want?
A) 1 B) 2 C) 4 D) none
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Oxidation

Oxygen: abundant in air

Oxygen oxidizes something by stealing electrons

from it

Can oxidize iron to produce rust, also oxidizes

organic material
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Biological Reactions
Oxidation Reduction

Cellular Respiration
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Acids and Bases

Which can be more corrosive?

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Acid/Base Reactions

Alone they are both corrosive

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Light and Matter

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Gas emits particular colours

The gas will also
tend to absorb those
particular colours

Colours depend on:

A. Number of
electrons in the
atom
B. Electron energy
levels
C. Structure of the
nucleus

But solids emit a

broader range, can
also absorb, reflect,
scatter
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Where do we see it?

B
A
D
C

Emission Scattering
Absorption Transmission
Reflection
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Reflection and Scattering

Smooth surface:
mirror-like
reflection in a
particular direction

Rough surface:
scattering =
reflection in a
variety of
directions
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Transmission
Light (maybe partially)
passing through a medium:
transmission
The light often bent in the
process this is called
refraction
The pencil does not allow
transmission through it: it is
opaque, while the water is
transparent
Depends on atomic and
molecular properties
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Absorption
What colour light do
plants eat?
A. Green
B. Everything but green

A green object is
absorbing everything
except green
Scatters green

What does a red shirt

absorb?
A. Red
B. Everything but red
C. Everything
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What will a red

shirt look like
under a light
source that puts
out no red (ie.
pure blue
light)?
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Nuclear Physics
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Nucleus vs. Electrons

Protons or
neutrons
If the number of electrons
change, will the nucleus
change?
A. Yes
B. No

What is the word for an

atom with an altered
number of electrons
neutrons
A. Isotope
B. Ion
C. Element
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Isotopes

Some isotopes are stable, some are unstable

Unstable isotopes can decay and become stable
ones, spontaneously
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Nuclear Energy
Changing an electron orbit
can release visible light

Changing the nucleus can

release a gamma ray, a
million times higher
energy

Energy is stored in the

bonds
And Energy is Mass...
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A) Fission B) Fusion
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Fusion in the Sun

He atom has 0.7% less mass than four Hs

600 million tons of H into 596 million tons of

He per second
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Fusion on Earth?
Need extremely
high
temperatures
10 million K for
the Sun to do it

Can we do cold
fusion?
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Uranium Fission
One large nucleus
broken up into two
(or more)

Bond energy
released

Resulting nuclei are

less massive than
the original
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Fuel Rods, Chain Reactions, Safety

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Nuclear Power Plants are Steam Generators

Heat produces steam, turns turbines, creates electricity

No contaminated water leaves the plant
So is it normally dangerous to live near a nuclear
plant?
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Nuclear Bombs

More than Critical Mass chain

reaction goes off
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The Demon Core

Another way to set off a
chain reaction from a
sub-critical piece of
plutonium:
Dont let any neutrons
escape it, keep em all in
Put neutron-reflective
stuff around it

First incident: victim

after 25 days
Second incident: victim
after 9 days
And if you do let the
chain reaction go
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Radioactive Decay
If a nucleus is unstable, it can spontaneously
decay
Alpha decay two protons, two neutrons fall out
U-238 can become Thorium-234
Beta decay a proton becomes a neutron, or
vice versa
Carbon-14 becomes Nitrogen-14

Can not predict when a single atom will decay

But overall, half of a sample will have decayed

after one half-life
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In radioactive decay, some isotopes in a

rock turn into other nuclei

half-life: time
for half the
nuclei in a
substance to
decay

Clock starts
ticking when
the rock
solidifies
Had no argon
(gas) in it
originally
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Dating a rock

oldest moon rocks oldest meteorites are

are 4.4 billion 4.55 billion years old
years old
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Carbon Dating

Carbon-12 is the most common isotope

Carbon-14 is produced in the atmosphere
Its radioactive, and will decay: half-life of 5,730
years
Both are taken in by living creatures... Until the
creature dies

We know how much C-12 and C-14 it shouldve

started with
The question is: how much C-14 is left now?
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Carbon Dating: Carbon-14 Decay

If you find a skull
that contains exactly
50% as much C-14 as
it mustve started
with, it is
A. Less than 5730
years old
B. Exactly 5730 years
old
C. More than 5730
years old
D. 11460 years old

When it is 11,460
years old, how much
of its initial C-14 will
be left?
A. 100%
B. 50%
C. 25%
D. 12.5%
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The half-life of an isotope determines what

range of ages it can measure
isotope Where Half life Used to
formed measure
Technetium-99 reactors 6 hours Human body
(nuc med)
Cesium-137 Nuclear 30 yr geochemistry
weapons
Carbon-14 Earth 5730 yr Archeological
atmosphere ages, etc
Potassium-40 Naturally 1.25 x 109 yr Rock ages
occurring
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Radioactive Tracers
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Activity: Radioactive Dating

Work in groups of 2-3

Discuss and agree on answers

Fill in your own sheet, make sure to sign your

name to it
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Take-Up Questions
Can you accurately predict how long it will take two atoms to decay?

2 grams of Tech-99 injected, with a 6 hour half-life. When there is

0.5g remaining, how long has it been?
A. 6 hours
B. 12 hours
C. 18 hours
D. other

A skeleton contains 12.5% of the C-14 that it should have. How long
has it been dead?
A. 5730 years
B. 11,460 years
C. 17190 years
D. Other

Is Cesium-137 from the Fukushima leak still a problem?

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Next week: Test 2

Test 2 covers the material since test 1
Astronomy: chapters 10 & 11
Atoms, elements: chapters 4 & 6
Materials and nuclear physics: chapters 7 & 8

Same format - 20 MC questions (1 mark each), 4

short answer (5 marks each, chosen from 8)

After the test: Environmental Science: Cycles of

Earth
Readings: chapter 13 and 14
Report 2 due in week 11