CONTENT

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
CERTIFICATE
INTRODUCTION
ALPHA DECAY
BETA DECAY
GAMMA DECAY
NUCLEAR FISSION
NUCLEAR FUSION
HALF LIFE PERIOD & RATE
OF RADIOACTIVE
DISINTEGRATION
BIBIOLOGY

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that

PRATYUSH
MISHRA
of
class 12 A1 Board roll
no.-.......................... for
his
satisfactory
performance
in
the
investigatory project of
NUCLEAR
CHEMISTRY
under the guidance of Mr.
Prabir Kumar Masat,Dept.
Of Chemistry,Delhi Public
School,Dhanbad in the
academic session 201516.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I wish to express my deep
gratitude and sincere thanks to
the Principal Mr. KB Bhargava
DELHI PUBLIC SCHOOL DHANBAD
for the encouragement and for all
the facilities that he provided for
the
project
work.I
sincerely
appreciate his magnanimity by
taking me into his fold for which I
shall remain indebted to him.I
extend my heartly thanks to Mr
Prabir Kumar Masat who guided
me to the completion of this
project.I take this opportunity to
express
my
deep
sense
of
gratitude
for
his
invaluable
guidance,constant
encouragment
,costructive
comments,sympathetic
attitude
and immense motivation which has
sustained my efforts at all of this
project work.

I can't forget to offer my sincere

thanks to Mr. Lal Chand and also
my classates and parents who
helped me to complete the project
work and their valuable advice and
support which I received from time
to time.
NUCLEAR
INTRODUCTION

CHEMISRTY

We have seen that many elements

occur as more than one isotope.The
nucleus of a given isotope may be
either
stable
or
unstable.Those
isotope with an unstable nucleus will
in time spontaneously undergoe a
nuclear reaction.These isotopes are
said to be radioactive.
In
a
stable
nucleus
will
not
spontaneously undergo a nuclear
recation.In a nuclear reaction,the
nucleus chains in some essential
ways,gaining or losing proton and/or
neutron.

As a part of this process,high energy

particles
or
electromagnetic
radiations may be given off by the
atom.The new atom which is produced
may be stable or my itself be
radioactive.
Any atom which contains 84 or more
protons in its nucleus is radioactive
.Atoms with very large numbers pf
nucleons(210
or
more)are
radioactive.Lighter isotopes may be
radioactive due to an unfavourable
ratio of proton to neutron in the
nucleus.

ALPHA DECAY
Alpha decay or a-decay is a type of radioactive decay in
which an atomic nucleus emits an alpha particle and
therby transform(or 'decay')into an atom with a mass
number 4 less and atomic number 2 less.For
example,uranium -238 decaying through 'a' particle
emmision to form Thorium-234 can be expressed as
Because an alph aprticle in the same a the neucleus of
a helium-4 atom consisting of two protons and two
neutrons and thus having mass number 4 and atomic
number 2-this can also be written as
e electrons.The convention is not meant to imply that
the nuclei necessarily occur in neutral atom.Aplha decay
typically occurs in the heaviest nuclides.In theory i

The alpha particle also has a charge +2 but the charge

is usually not written in nuclear equations which
decsribe nuclear reaction without considering tht can
occur
only
in
nuclei
somewhat
heavier
than
Nickel(element 28),where overall binding energyper
nucleon is no longer a minimum, and the nuclides are
therfore unstable
towards spontaneous fission type
process.In practice,this mode of decay has only been
observed in nuclides considerably heavier than
nickel,with the lightest known alpha emmitor being
lighest
isotopes(mass
number
106-110)of
Tellurium(element 52).
Alpha decay in by far the most common form of cluster
decay where the parent atom ejects a defined daughter
collection of nucleons,leaving another defined product
behind(in nuclear fission,a number of different pairs of
daughters
of
approxiamately
equal
size
are
formed).Alpha decay is the most likely cluster decay
because of the combined extremely high binding energy
and relatively small mass of the helium-4 product
nucleus(the alpha particle).Alpha decay,like other
cluster decays,is fundamnetally a quantum tunneling
process.

BETA DECAY
In nuclear physics,beta decay(b-decay)is a type of
radioactive decay in which a beta particle (an
electron or positron)is emitted from an atomic
nucleus.Beta decay is a process which allows the
atom to obtain the optimal ratio of proton and
neutron.
Beta decay is mediated by the weak force.There are
two types:beta minus and beta plus.In the case of
beta decay that produces an electron emissio,it is

referred to as beta minus(b-),while in case of a

positron emission as beta plus(b+).
An example of b- decay is shown when carbon-14decays into nitrogen-14.

Notice how ,in electron emission ,an electron

antineutron is also emitted with an unchanged mass
number but an atomic number has incresed by one.
An example of positron b+ is shown with
magnesium-23 decaying into sodium-23.

In contrast to electron emission,positron emission is

accompanied by the emission of one elctron
neutrino.Similar to electron emission,Positron decay
results in nuclear transmutation,changing an atom
of a chemical element into an atom of element with
an unchanged mass number .However ,in positron
decay,the resulting element has an atomic number
that has decreased by one.