Chemistry Name______
Nuclear Chemistry
Nuclear Equations
Directions: Complete the following nuclear equations and list the type of decay (alpha, α, beta, β, or
gamma, γ) to the right of the equation.
Type of Decay
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
6. ______
7. ______
8. ______
9. ______
10. ______
11. + gamma rays ______
12. ______
Nuclear Equations II
Directions: Complete the nuclear equations by filling in the blank space.
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26.
27. This series of nuclear reactions is called a ______.
28. It shows radioactive Uranium – 238 will form non-radioactive ______. This process takes approximately ______years.
29. Fill in the blank with the isotopic symbol that will complete and balance the following nuclear equations:
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
30. Write balanced nuclear equations for the following:
a. The alpha decay of neptunium-237
b. The beta decay of bismuth-210
c. The neutron bombardment of tin-120
d. The electron capture of iodine-128
e. The nuclear transmutation of mercury-201 that consists of two alpha decays and 1 beta decay.
f. The electron capture of antimony-123 followed by the emission of 2 neutrons.
g. Alpha-particle bombardment of plutonium-239 produces a neutron and another isotope. Write the nuclear equation for this reaction and identify the isotope.
h. When bombarded with a neutron, lithium-6 produces an alpha particle and an isotope of hydrogen. Write the nuclear equation for this reaction. What isotope of hydrogen is produced?
i. With what particle would you bombard sulfur-32 with to produce hydrogen-1 and phosphorus-32? Write the appropriate nuclear equation.
j. With what particle would you bombard bismuth-209 to produce astatine-211 and 2 neutrons? Express this reaction in the form of a nuclear equation.
31. Write an equation to describe the alpha decay of a radium-226 nucleus to form a radon nucleus.
32. Write an equation to describe the alpha decay of a radon nucleus to form a polonium-218 nucleus.
33. Write an equation to describe the beta decay of a lead-214 nucleus to form a bismuth-214 nucleus.
34. Write an equation to describe the alpha decay of a uranium-238 nucleus to form a thorium nucleus.
35. Write an equation to describe the beta decay of a thorium-234 nucleus to form a protactimium nucleus.
36. Write the series of equations involving three alpha decays and two beta decays that show the transmutation of a uranium-238 nucleus into a radium-226 nucleus.
Isotopic Notation & Nuclear Reactions
37. How many protons and neutrons do each of the following have?
a) b) c) d)
38. The following are elements with mass numbers. Rewrite the numbers in isotopic notation.
a) gold-197 b) magnesium-25 c) lead-210 d) iodine-131
39. Complete the nuclear equation for the alpha emission (decay) for the following isotopes:
a) c)
b) d)
40. Complete the nuclear equation for the beta emission (decay) for the following isotopes:
a) c)
b) d)
41. Complete the following nuclear equations and identify them as either alpha (α) or beta (β) decay.
a) c)
b) d)
42. Fill in the blanks in the following radioactive decay series:
Changes in the Nucleus
43. Nuclear reactions change the composition of an atom’s ______.
44. The attractive force that overcomes the electric repulsion between protons is the ______force.
45. Almost all the atoms you encounter have ______nuclei.
46. All nuclei with atomic numbers greater than 83 are ______.
47. Alpha, beta and gamma radiation are distinguished by their charge, ______, and penetrating power.
48. When an atom emits alpha, beta or gamma radiation, it is undergoing ______decay.
Answer each of the following in the space provided:
49. Why do nuclei need neutrons to be stable? ______
50. In any radioactive decay, the sum of the mass numbers and atomic numbers must be ______before and after the reaction.
a) greater b) the same c) less d) unpredictable
51. The most dangerous form of radiation to the human body is
a) beta radiationb) gamma radiation c) alpha radiation d) They are equally dangerous
52. To be stable, atoms with more than 20 protons need increasingly more
a) neutrons than protons c) electrons than neutrons
b) electrons than protons d) protons than neutrons
53. The sun produces energy by means of
a) gamma radiation b) beta decay c) alpha decay d) nuclear fusion
56.
57.
58.
Write a nuclear equation for the following reactions:
59. alpha decay of polonium-210 ______
60. beta decay of tritium () ______
61. alpha decay of thorium-230 ______
62. alpha decay of ______
63. What particle bombards Beryllium-9 if it forms carbon-12 and neutrons?
______
64. beta decay of ______
65. What isotope is bombarded with alpha particles to produce oxygen-17 and hydrogen-1? ______
66. alpha decay of ______
67. beta decay of ______
68. bombardment of boron-10 with neutrons to produce Li-7 and another particle ______
69. beta decay of ______
Nuclear Bombardment Problems
70. Bombardment of aluminum-27 by alpha particles produces phosphorus-30 and one other particle. Write the nuclear equation for this reaction and identify the other particle.
71. When bombarded with neutrons, cobalt-59 is converted to cobalt-60. What is the nuclear equation for this reaction?
72. Neutron bombardment of plutonium-239 yields americium-240 and another particle. Write the nuclear equation and identify the other particle produced.
73. Alpha-particle bombardment of plutonium-239 produces a neutron and another isotope. Write the nuclear equation for this reaction and identify the isotope.
74. When bombarded with neutrons, lithium-6 produces an alpha particle and an isotope of hydrogen. Write the nuclear equation for this reaction. What isotope of hydrogen is produced?
75. With what particle would you bombard sulfur-32 to produce hydrogen-1 and phosphorus-32? Write the appropriate nuclear equation.
76. With what particle would you bombard bismuth-209 to produce astatine-211 and 2 neutrons? Express this reaction in the form of a nuclear equation.
77.
78.
½ Life Notes
Definition: The time it takes for ______of the atoms in a ______
material to ______. This time can range from ______sec to
______of years.
Examples:
79. Carbon-14, ½ life = 5730 years. If you start with 128g, how long until 8g remain?
TIME / AMOUNT80. If the ½ life of element x is 100. years, how much of the isotope will remain after 500 years if you start with 128g?
TIME / AMOUNT81. 20.g of a radioisotope with a ½ life of 200 hours is prepared in a nuclear reactor. How much will remain after 600. hours?
TIME / AMOUNTHalf-life Problems
82. The half-life of cesium-137 is 30.2 years. If the initial mass of a sample of cesium-137 is 1.00 kg, how much will remain after 151 years.
83. With a half-life of 28.8 years, how long will it take for 1.00g of strontium-90 to decay to 0.125g?
84. A 1.000-kg block of phosphorus-32, which has a half-life of 14.3 days, is stored for 100.1 days. At the end of this period, how much phosphorus-32 remaining
85. There are 3.29 g of iodine remaining in a sample originally containing 26.3 g of iodine-126. The half-life of iodine-126 is 13 days. How old is the sample?
86. A sample of air from a basement is collected to test for the presence of radon-222, which has a half-life of 3.8 days. However, delays prevent the sample from being tested until 7.6 days have passed. Measurements indicate the presence of 6.5 mg of radon-222. How much radon-222 was present in the sample when it was initially collected?
87. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. If a sample originally contained 3.36 g of C-14, how much is present after 22,920 years?
88. Gold-191 has a half-life of 12.4 hours. After one day and 13.2 hours, 10.6 g of gold-191 remains in a sample. How much gold-191 was originally present in the sample?