ATOMIC PHYSICS (MYP-5)

Pre-Assessment
What is an atom?
The ancient Greeks first developed the idea of atomic theory and thought of
atoms as being the smallest building blocks of matter. They considered the
idea of taking an amount of a substance, such as water, and dividing it into
smaller portions. They knew that when a cup of water was poured into two
smaller cups, the two smaller portions of water would have the same
properties as the initial cup – it would still be the same substance. However,
they thought that there would be a limit to how many times you could go on
dividing the water. Eventually, they concluded, you would have the smallest
amount of water possible that could not be divided any further while still
having the properties of water. They called this smallest amount an atom.
The word atom itself derives from the Greek meaning “indivisible”.
In the late 18th century, chemists studied the quantities of matter used in
chemical reactions and realized that the relative amounts of matter involved
were always in fixed ratios. This led to them drawing the conclusion that the
fixed ratio of chemicals was due to the fact that the chemicals came in
discrete quantities – atoms. Chemists were then able to classify substances
as being either a compound, involving two or more different types of atom,
or an element, matter which only had one type of atom.
Chemists put the elements into an arrangement that they called the periodic
table.

Up to this time, the atom was considered to be a fundamental particle, that

is it could not be split into anything smaller. However, the discovery of the
electron in the late 19th century showed that this did not seem to be the
case. Scientists later determined that the electron was part of the atom and
was much smaller and lighter than an atom. This meant that an atom was
not the smallest unit of matter possible.
What is an electron?
An electron is a tiny particle, in fact it is so small that it behaves as if it were
a point with no size. Scientists believe that it is a fundamental particle, that
is, it is not made up of any smaller particles. An electron’s mass is also tiny:
9.1 × 10-31 kg. This is much smaller than the masses of the other particles in
an atom. An electron also has a charge. Charge is a fundamental property
of matter, just as mass is. Charge is the property which is responsible for
electrostatic forces and electricity. The charge of an electron is negative
and is –1.6 × 10-19 C. The unit of charge is the coulomb which has the
symbol C.
Because electrons are fundamental particles and cannot be divided into
smaller parts with smaller charges, a charged object has a total charge that
is a multiple of 1.6 × 10-19 C as it will have gained or lost a whole number of
electrons. Scientists call this the elementary charge and label it e. An
electron has a charge of –e and an object that has gained two electrons
would gain a charge of –2e. On the other hand, a previously uncharged
object which loses an electron would be left with a charge of +e.

What else is inside an atom?

The discovery of the electron prompted scientists to rethink their ideas
about the atom. At first they thought that perhaps the electrons were dotted
around inside the atom in a sea of positive charge. Because this resembled
the fruit in a popular pudding of the time, this model was called the plum
pudding model.
The Geiger–Marsden experiment observed a small number of alpha
particles were deflected through a large angle. Rutherford had discovered
the nucleus of an atom. The nucleus is positively charged and contains
almost all of the mass of an atom, but is also very small. Rutherford showed
that the nucleus contained positively charged particles called protons.
Rutherford suggested that there was another particle in the nucleus with no
overall charge. The discovery of the neutron in 1932 confirmed that the
nucleus of an atom is composed of two different particles: protons and
neutrons. Protons and neutrons both have a similar mass: the mass of a
proton is 1.673 × 10 -27 kg and a neutron has a mass of 1.675 × 10 -27 kg.
These masses are much bigger than the mass of an electron.
Protons have a positive charge of +e, in other words they have the same
sized charge as an electron, but are positive rather than negative. Neutrons
have no charge.
Atomic Notation
Today, scientists think that electrons truly are fundamental particles
that cannot be broken down into smaller, simpler particles. They
are a type of fundamental particles called leptons. Protons and
neutrons, on the other hand, are no longer thought to be
fundamental particles. Instead, they are now thought to consist of
smaller, simpler particles of matter called quarks. Scientists
theorize that leptons and quarks are held together by yet another
type of fundamental particles called bosons.
What are isotopes?
Atoms of the same element, that is, with the same number of
protons in the nucleus, but with different numbers of neutrons are
called isotopes. As a result of having the same number of protons,
they have the same number of electrons and therefore the same
chemical properties. The different number of neutrons gives them
a different mass but does not affect the chemical properties.

Why do nuclei decay?

If the nucleus is not able to hold itself together, or if there is a better
arrangement of the protons and neutrons that has less energy and is more
stable as a result, then the nucleus decays.
• The three main types of radioactive particle or radiation are:
o Alpha particles
o Beta particles
o Gamma radiation
More neutrons are required to hold the nucleus together. Very large nuclei
become more unstable. The largest stable isotope is an isotope of lead
(20882𝑃𝑏), any nucleus larger than this will decay. The most common way for
large nuclei to decay is by emitting a helium nucleus, also known as an
alpha particle. This is because a helium nucleus is very stable, and by
losing a helium nucleus, the large nucleus becomes smaller and more
stable. This process is called alpha decay.

In general, the equation for alpha decay is:

When a large nucleus emits an alpha particle, the remaining nucleus, often
called a daughter nucleus, is now smaller as it has lost two protons and two
neutrons. This can be written as a nuclear equation. For example, the
decay of americium-241(24195𝐴𝑚) can be written as:
A nucleus with too many neutrons can restore the balance and become
more stable if a neutron turns into a proton. If a neutron does this, it also
emits a high-speed electron from the nucleus. This is called a beta particle
and the process is called beta decay. The process by which a neutron turns
into a proton can be written as the equation:

The electron or beta particle is given the mass number 0 and the atomic
number -1 in order to balance the equation. An example of beta decay is
the decay of carbon-14. The most abundant isotope of carbon is carbon-12
which has six protons and six neutrons. Carbon-14 is much rarer as it has
two extra neutrons which make the nucleus unstable. The equation for the
decay of carbon-14 into nitrogen-14 is:

The total number of protons and neutrons remains the same, but by turning
one neutron into a proton, the balance in the number of protons and
neutrons is restored to seven of each. The general equation for a nucleus
decaying by beta emission is:
Beta-Minus Decay
• A beta-minus (β−) particle is a high-energy electron
o It has a charge of −1e.
• The nuclear notation for a beta-minus particle is:

• Beta-minus particles are usually emitted by unstable nuclei with too many neutrons
• Beta-minus decay is when a neutron turns into a proton and emits an electron and an anti-
neutrino

Beta-Plus Decay
• A beta-plus (β+) particle is a high-energy positron
o It is the antimatter particle of the electron
o It has a charge of +1e
• The nuclear notation for a beta-plus particle is:

• Beta-plus particles are usually emitted by unstable nuclei with too many protons
• Beta-plus decay is when a proton turns into a neutron and emits a positron and a neutrino
• Positrons have a proton number of +1, so overall:
o The proton number decreases by 1
The nucleon number remains the same.
 Particle Charge Mass Role

Electron -1 9.11×10−31 Fundamental

kg component
of atoms
Positron +1 9.11×10−31 Antimatter
kg counterpart
of electrons
Neutrino 0 Nearly Produced in
massless nuclear
reactions,
interacts
weakly with
matter
Antineutrino 0 Nearly Antimatter
massless counterpart
of neutrinos,
involved in
weak
interactions

How can a nucleus emit gamma rays?

After alpha or beta decay, the nucleus can be left in an excited state. This
means that it has excess energy. The nucleus can undergo a further decay
process where it settles into a more stable state. In doing so it releases
energy in the form of a high-energy photon. This process is called gamma
decay and the high-energy photons, gamma rays, are the most energetic
part of the electromagnetic spectrum with the shortest wavelengths.

Gamma decay does not involve a change in the structure of the nucleus,
hence the equation for gamma decay is:

where * indicates that the initial nucleus was in an excited state.

Like alpha and beta particles, gamma rays are ionizing. However, since the
photons have no charge, they do not interact as strongly with the matter
that they pass through, so they are less ionizing than alpha and beta
radiation. As a result, they are harder to stop and travel further through air.
Gamma rays can travel kilometers through air and are only blocked by a
thick layer of dense material (often a couple of centimeters of lead).

Penetrating Power of Radiations

How do we measure nuclear decay?

Nuclear radiation can be detected with a Geiger–Müller tube. Radiation that

passes into the tube ionizes the gas inside it. The positive ions that are
created from this ionization are attracted to the outside of the tube which is
negatively charged, and the electrons are attracted to the positively charged
electrode. When the electrons arrive at the central electrode, they create a
small electrical pulse which can be counted. The number of counts per
second is called the count rate. It is measured in becquerels (Bq) where
1Bq is 1 count per second. The count rate is proportional to the activity of
the source. The activity is the number of decays per second in the source
which can also be measured in becquerels. The difference between the
count rate and the activity is that the activity refers to the total number of
decays whereas the measured count rate is smaller because not all the
decays are detected.