Radioactive Decay and Nuclear Stability Quiz

Radiation and Radioactive Decay

• Marie Curie found that alpha, beta, and gamma radiation are proportional to the amount of radioactive elements present.
• Radioactive decay is a process that involves the spontaneous emission of particles or energy from an unstable nucleus.

Nuclear Chemistry

• Nuclear stability refers to the ability of an atom to resist nuclear changes.
• The term "nuclide" is used to describe the number of protons and neutrons in the nucleus of an atom.
• Atoms with the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons are called isotopes.
• The protons and neutrons that make up the nucleus of an atom are collectively referred to as nucleons.
• Unstable nuclei that decay spontaneously are called radioactive nuclei.
• The collective term for the emissions of a radioactive nucleus is radiation.

Nuclear Reactions

• Transmutation refers to the process of converting atoms of one element into another element.
• Isotopes that emit radiation are called radioactive isotopes.
• The rate of radioactive decay is generally reported in terms of half-life, which is the time it takes for half of the original amount of radioactive material to decay.

Nuclear Forces

• The strong nuclear force overcomes the electrostatic repulsions between protons in stable atomic nuclei.
• If the attractive interactions due to the strong nuclear force are weaker than the electrostatic repulsions, the nucleus becomes unstable.
• The energy required to break up a nucleus into its separate nucleons is known as the binding energy.
• The mass difference between a nucleus and its constituent nucleons is known as the mass defect.

Subatomic Particles

• A proton has a charge of +1 and a mass of approximately 1 atomic mass unit (amu).
• A neutron has no charge and a mass of approximately 1 amu.
• An electron has a charge of -1 and a mass of approximately 1/1836.1 amu.