CHEM 11200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Unified Atomic Mass Unit, Alpha Particle, Carbon-12

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lemonhedgehog555

19 Jul 2020

School

University of Chicago

Department

Chemistry

Course

CHEM 11200

Professor

Kozmin

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Document Summary

Ions: an atom that has lost or gained a certain number of electrons, which changes the charge of that atom. Cation: atom that loses electrons, making the overall charge positive. Anion: atom that gains electrons, making the overall charge negative. Ion/charge written as a right superscript, including the + or - charge. Radioactive: an element with unstable nuclei, which will undergo radioactive decay, in order to reach a more stable state. The many types of decay are shown/ explained below: The loss of an alpha particle from an unstable nucleus. The loss of an electron and the conversion of a neutron in to a proton. Adds to atomic number but not the mass.

Related Questions

Nuclear Decay Equations

Learning Goal:

To predict the products of alpha emission, beta emission, positron emission, and electron capture.

Radioactivity is the spontaneous emission of radiation from an unstable nucleus. There are five major types of radioactive decay:

Alpha (Î±) radiation consists of helium nuclei. The helium nucleus is a small particle containing two protons and two neutrons (42He).

Beta (Î²) radiation consists of electrons. In nuclear equations, the standard format for representing a beta particle using superscripts and subscripts is 0â1e.

Positron emission results from the conversion of a proton in the nucleus to a neutron. The ejected positron is a particle that has the same mass as an electron but an opposite charge. In nuclear equations, the standard format for representing a positron using superscripts and subscripts is 01e .

Electron capture is the capture of an inner shell electron by a proton in the nucleus. The process emits gamma (Î³) radiation and results in a proton converting to a neutron. Gamma radiation consists of high-energy electromagnetic radiation.

Gamma (Î³) radiation consists of high-energy radiation, and contains no particles and thus they have no mass. In nuclear equations, the standard format for representing gamma radiation using superscripts and subscripts is 00Î³.

Balancing a decay equation

There are two main rules to remember when balancing nuclear equations:

The total of the superscripts in the reactants and products must be the same.

The total of the subscripts in the reactants and products must be the same.

For an isotope of an element, the superscripts are mass numbers, and the subcripts are atomic numbers:

Mass number â¶ AAtomic number â¶ Z X âµ Chemical symbol

Where the mass number (A) is the sum of the number of proton and number of neutrons in the nucleus, atomic number (Z) is the number of protons in the nucleus, and chemical symbol (X) is the symbol of the specific element.

Part A

Identify the nuclide produced when americium-241 decays by alpha emission:

241 95Amâ42He + ?

Express your answer as an isotope using prescripts.

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Part B

Identify the nuclide produced when phosphorus-32 decays by beta emission:

3215Pâ 0â1e + ?

Express your answer as an isotope using prescripts.

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Part C

Identify the nuclide produced when fluorine-18 decays by positron emission: