NUCLEAR ENERGY

Antoine Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity while experimenting with phosphorescence and discovered radioactive element uranuim. Marie Curie discovered 4x radioactive element than uranuim called raduim with her husband Pierre Curie. They also discovered another radioactive element polonuim which they named it after their homeland country Poland. Marie Curie coined the term radioactivity.

 Radiation- an energy travelling through space. - A process in which energetic particles or wave travel through medium or space . - Energy emitted in the form of particles/ waves by substances such as uranium , whose atoms are not stable and are spontaneously decaying.

Radioactive
- Describes an element (like uranium ) or substance that emits energy in the form of streams of particles, owing to the decaying of its unstable atoms.

 Radioactivity spontaneous disintegration of atomic nuclei by the emission of subatomic particles (such as alpha, beta particles) or electromagnetic rays ( x-rays and gamma rays)
Radioactive decay the process by which an atomic nucleus of unstable atom loses energy by emitting ionizing radiation

Raadiation is everywhere!

The sun is one big source of radiation. Nuclear radiation is also found everywhere! Radioactive elements is found in plants, the food we eat, and even in our bodies.

Radiation can be ionizing and non ionizing.

Nuclear Radiation Is ionizing!

All nuclear radiation is ionizing! This means that they can be dangerous. The table show the different types of nuclear radiation.
A. B. C. Looking at the column biological hazard? Which among the nuclear radiations is most ionizing? Which among alpha, beta and gamma radiations is the most ionizing? What other information can we derive from the given table above?

Penetration power of alpha beta and gamma radiation

Which of the three radiation has the highest penetrating power? Which of the three radiation has the lowest penetrating power?

A. Which radiation among the nuclear radiation is not affected (undeflected) by electric field? B. Which radiation moves along with the direction of electric field? What is the charge of this radiation? C. Which radiation moves opposite to the direction of electric field? What is the charge of this radiation? D. What do you think if these radiations will be under the magnetic field, will they be affected? Explain your answer.

Understanding the atom and nuclear energy

It was Ernest Rutherford who suggested this kind of structure of the atom. This is base from the evidence gathered from his thin gold experiment bombarded with alpha and beta radiations.

Most of the -particles were able to pass through the gold foil without encountering anything large enough to significantly deflect their path. A small fraction of the -particles came close to the nucleus of a gold atom as they passed through the foil. When this happened, the force of repulsion between the positively charged -particle and the nucleus deflected the -particle by a small angle. Occasionally, an -particle traveled along a path that would eventually lead to a direct collision with the nucleus of one of the 2000 or so atoms it had to pass through. When this happened, repulsion between the nucleus and the -particle deflected the -particle through an angle of 90o or more.

 The atomic nucleus is a very tiny structure of an atom which is composed of particles called nucleons. Electrically charged nucleons are the protons and the neutrally charged nucleons are the neutrons. On the average, nucleons have nearly 2000 times the mass of the electron. This means that the mass of an atom is practically equal to the mass of its nucleus alone!

 Electrons are held close to the nucleus by the protons. The neutrons, on the other hand, hold the nucleus together. Nucleons are bound by an attractive force known as the strong nuclear force, which holds the protons and neutrons together inside the nucleus.

 A difference in the number of protons and electrons makes the atom a charged particle and is known as an ion. The number of neutrons in the nucleus, however, has no effect on the number of electrons an atom may have. This means that any change in the number of neutrons will not affect the chemical properties of an element. Elements having different numbers of neutrons but have the same number of protons have the same chemical properties and are called isotopes.

Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation of the atom as a particular element.

 Isotopes can be stable or unstable. Unstable isotopes are radioactive and are called radioactive isotopes or radioisotope.

Some isotopes of different elements

#If you are going to plot all the isotopes in the graph number of neutron vs. number of protons, all stable isotopes would fall in the band of stability. #The graph above shows that above the band of stability, radioisotopes emits beta radiation. #Below the band of stability, radioisotopes emit a positive electron called positron. #The band of stability stops at element 83, above element 83 most of the radioisotopes emits alpha radiation.

Spontaneous source of nuclear radiation

unstable isotopes/ radioisotopes emits nuclear radiations. As radioisotopes emits nuclear radiation they undergo radioactive decay and change into different element. This changing of one element to another is called transmutation.