Nuclear Properties: Binding Energy, Radioactivity, and Applications

1. Chapter 3 Nuclear properties • TOPICS • Nuclear binding energy • Radioactivity • Artificial isotopes • Nuclear reactions • Separation of radioactive isotopes • Applications of isotopes • Sources of 2H and13C • Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy: • applications • Mo¨ssbauer spectroscopy: applications

2. 3.2 Nuclear binding energy • Mass defect, and binding energy • • mass defect • - atomic mass of any atom besides 1H is less than the sum of the • protons, neutrons, and electrons. • is a measure of the binding energy of the protons and neutrons • in the nucleus • -loss of mass and liberation of energy are related by Einstein’s • equations. • DE = Dmc 2 Where DE = energy libarated Dm = loss of mass C = speed of light in a vacuum = 2.998 x 108 ms-1

3. The sum of the masses of the protons, neutrons and electrons in a Li atom

5. Fig. 3.1 Variation in average binding energy per nucleon as a function of mass number. Note that the energy scale is positive, meaning that the nuclei with the highest values of the binding energies release the greatest amount of energy upon formation. Mev = mega electron vollt note that the binding energy per nucleon decreases appreciably for mass numbers > 100. The average binding energy per nucleon it is more useful to consider the average binding energy per nucleon, i.e. per particle in the nucleus.

6. 3.3 Radioactivity Nuclear emissions If a nuclide is radioactive , it emits particles or electromagnetic radiation or undergoes spontaneous fission or electron capture.

7. An example of spontaneous radioactive decay is that of carbon-14, which takes place by loss of a b-particle to give nitrogen-14. This decay is the basis of radio-carbon dating. The emission of a b-particle results in an increase in the atomic number by 1 and leaves the mass number unchanged. A positron is of equal mass but opposite charge to an electron. A neutrino and an antineutrino possess near zero masses, are uncharged and accompany the emission from the nucleus of a positron and an electron respectively.

8. Nuclear transformations

9. The kinetics of radioactive decay Fig. 3.4 Radioactive decay follows first order kinetics and a plot of the number of nuclides against time is an exponential decay curve. The graph shows a decay curve for radon-222,which has a half-life of 3.82 days

12. 3.4 Artificial isotopes Nuclear reactions may occur when nuclei are bombarded with high energy neutrons or positively charged particles. Production of artificial nuclides has two consequences: • production of artificial isotopes of elements that do no not possess naturally occurring radioisotopes • synthesis of transuranium elements (Z ≥ 93), nearly all of which are exclusively man- made.

13. 3.5 Nuclear fission A particular reaction path during nuclear fission is called a reaction channel The fission of uranium-235 The general point that the sum of the mass numbers of the two fission products plus the neutrons must equal 236.

14. Since each neutron can initiate another nuclear reaction, a branching chain reaction is possible. If this involves a quantity of 235U larger than a certain critical mass, a violent explosion occurs, liberating enormous amounts of energy. Fig. 3.6 A representation of a branched chain reaction in which each step of the reaction produces two neutrons, each of which can initiate the fission of a 235U nuclide. If left uncontrolled, such a chain reaction would lead to a violently explosive situation.

15. اليورانيوم هو المكون الوحيد الذي يمكن أن ينتج طاقة نووية، يحتوي اليورانيوم الطبيعي على ذرات ذات كتلات مختلفة تسمى النظائر وتوجد عادة في اليورانيوم 238 واليورانيوم 235. والنسب كما يلي: (اليورانيوم 238)- 99،3 % (اليورانيوم 235) -0،7 % النظائر الأخرى - 0،01% التخصيب هو عملية فصل اليورانيوم 238 واليورانيوم 235، ويتم بواسطة الطرد المركزي للغاز. حيث يتم تغذية الاسطوانة الدائرة (الطرد المركزي) -التي تدور على قاعدة يديرها محرك - بغاز اليورانيوم هكسا فلورايد - يذهب اليورانيوم في حالته الغازية إلى جهاز الطرد المركزي ويحول من 50-70 ألف دورة في الدقيقة. اليورانيوم المخصب يستخدم اليورانيوم المخصب في صناعة القنابل النووية، حيث يجب أن يرتفع مستوى اليورانيوم 235 قبل أن يتم حرقه كوقود في المفاعلات النووية أو استخدامه لصنع الأسلحة النووية. الأسلحة النووية خلال فترة عام يمكن لعدد 1500 من أجهزة الطرد المركزي أن تنتج كمية كافية من اليورانيوم عالي التخصيب لإنتاج قنبلة نووية واحدة. في حالة الأسلحة النووية يكون مستوى اليورانيوم 235 فوق 90% مقارنة بنسبة اليورانيوم 238 وبذلك يكون اليورانيوم 235 قابل للاحتراق. الكتلة الحرجة لبعض المواد بعض تلك الكتل الحرجة للكتلة الكروية العارية، أي من دون عاكس للنيوترونات يعمل على رد النيوترونات الخارجة من الكتلة لتحفيز تفاعلها مع المادة النووية. كتلة حرجة يورانيوم-235 : 52 كيلوجرام، أي كرة قطر 17 سم، كتلة حرجة بلوتونيوم-239 : 10 كيلوجرام، أي كرة قطر 10 سم، كتلة حرجة بلوتونيوم-240 : 40 كيلوجرام، أي كرة قطر 15 سم، وتعتمد الكتلة الحرجة على درجة نقاوة المادة إذ أن الشوائب تمتص النيوترونات وتمنعها من التفاعل، فمثلا إذا كان اليورانيوم-235 مخصبا بدرجة 20 % فقط تصبح الكتلة الحرجة فوق 400 كيلوجراما، وإذا كان اليورانيوم مخصبا لدرجة 15 % تصبح الكتلة الحرجة فوق 600 كيلوجراما. أما الثلاثة أرقام المذكورة أعلاه فهي لدرجة تخصيب تبلغ 99 %.

17. Production of energy by nuclear fission

18. Transuranium elements Table 3.2 The transuranium elements. The names are those agreed by the IUPAC.

19. 3.8 Nuclear fusion An example is the formation of helium-4 from deuterium and tritium Compared with fission reactions, nuclear fusion has the advantage that large quantities of radioactive products are not formed. However, the activation energies for fusion reactions are very high and, up to the present time, it has been possible to overcome the barrier only by supplying the energy from a fission reaction to drive a fusion reaction. This is the principle behind the hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb Fusion reactions are believed to take place in the Sun and start at temperatures above 107K.

20. 3.9 Applications of isotopes Infrared Spectroscopy (IR) When the hydrogen atom in an X-H bond is exchanged for deuterium, the reduced mass of the pair of bonded atoms changes and shifts the position of the absorption in the IR spectrum due to the X-H stretching mode. Shifts of this kind can be used to confirm assignments in IR spectra.

21. An absorption at 3650 cm-1 in the IR spectrum of a compound X has been assigned to an O-H stretching mode. To what Wave number is this band expected to shift upon deuteration? What assumption have you made in the calculation?

23. Kinetic isotope effects Isotopic labelling may be used to probe the mechanism of a reaction. Consider the case where the rate-determining step of a reaction involves breaking a particular C-H bond. Labelling the compound with deuterium at that site will mean that a C-D rather than a C-H bond is broken. The bond dissociation energy of a C-D bond is higher than that of a C-H bond because the zero point energy is lowered when the reduced mass, , of a bond is increased, i.e. (C-D) > ( C-H) the rate-determining step should proceed more slowly for the deuterated compound. The zero point energy of a molecule corresponds to the energy of its lowest vibrational level (vibrational ground state).

24. Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating is a technique used widely by archaeologists to date articles composed of organic material (e.g. wood). The method relies on the fact that one isotope of carbon,14C, is radioactive (t1/2 = 5730 yr) and decays according to equation Analytical applications The use of radioisotopes in analysis includes determinations of solubilities of sparingly soluble salts and vapour pressures of rather involatile substances, and investigations of solid solution formation and adsorption of precipitates.

25. 3.10 Sources of 2H and 13C Solvents for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, enriched in deuterium to an extent of 99%, are commercially available. The separation of deuterium from naturally occurring hydrogen is achieved electrolytically with the isotope in the form of D2O. Carbon-13: chemical enrichment

26. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance To be successful in using NMR as an analytical tool, it is necessary to understand the physical principles on which the methods are based. The nuclei of many elemental isotopes have a characteristic spin (I). Some nuclei have integral spins (e.g. I = 1, 2, 3 ....), some have fractional spins (e.g. I = 1/2, 3/2, 5/2 ....), and a few have no spin, I = 0 (e.g. 12C, 16O, 32S, ....). Isotopes of particular interest and use to organic chemists are 1H, 13C, 19F and 31P, all of which have I = 1/2. • Spin Properties of Nuclei • Nuclear spin may be related to the nucleon composition of a nucleus in the following manner: • Odd mass nuclei (i.e. those having an odd number of nucleons) have • fractional spins. Examples are I = 1/2 ( 1H, 13C, 19F ), I = 3/2 ( 11B ) • & I = 5/2 ( 17O ). • Even mass nuclei composed of odd numbers of protons and neutrons • have integral spins. Examples are I = 1 ( 2H, 14N ). • Even mass nuclei composed of even numbers of protons and • neutrons have zero spin ( I = 0 ). Examples are 12C, and 16O.

28. phenomenon: The following features lead to the nmr phenomenon:

29. For nmr purposes, this small energy difference (ΔE) is usually given as a frequency in units of MHz (106 Hz), ranging from 20 to 900 Mz, depending on the magnetic field strength and the specific nucleus being studied.

30. Why should the proton nuclei in different compounds behave differently in the nmr experiment ?The answer to this question lies with the electron(s) surrounding the proton in covalent compounds and ions. Since electrons are charged particles, they move in response to the external magnetic field (Bo) so as to generate a secondary field that opposes the much stronger applied field. This secondary field shields the nucleus from the applied field, so Bo must be increased in order to achieve resonance (absorption of rf energy). As illustrated in the drawing on the right, Bo must be increased to compensate for the induced shielding field. In the following diagram, those compounds that give resonance signals at the higher field side of the diagram (CH4, HCl, HBr and HI) have proton nuclei that are more shielded than those on the lower field (left) side of the diagram.

31. Low FieldRegion High FieldRegion Location of Signals • More electronegative atoms deshield more and give larger shift values. • Effect decreases with distance. • Additional electronegative atoms cause increase in chemical shift.