GOLDEN AGE INSTITUTE

CLASS 12th PHYSICS

CH – 13th Nuclei

Nucleus : In every atom , the positive charge & mass are densely concentrated at the center of
the atom forming its nucleus.

ATOMIC MASSES AND COMPOSITION OF NUCLEUS

Atomic number( Z ) : Atomic no. of an element is the number of proton present inside
the nucleus of an atom of the element.

Z = No. of protons = No. of electron

The mass of an ato is very small kilogram can’t be used to measure such small
quantity of mass.

Atomic Mass unit (u) : An atomic mass unit is equal to 1/12 the mass of a single atom
of C-12 the most abundant isotope of carbon.

𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒔 𝒐𝒇 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝑪−𝟏𝟐 𝒂𝒕𝒐𝒎 𝟏.𝟗𝟗𝒙𝟏𝟎− 𝟐𝟔

1u = = = 1.66 x 10-27 kg
𝟏𝟐 𝟏𝟐

NOTE : Accurate measurement of atomic masses is carried out with a mass spectrometer.

Mass number ( A ) : Mass number of an element is the total number protons and neutrons
inside the nucleus of an element.

A = Number of Protons + No. of Neutrons

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Size of Nucleus : The volume of the nucleus is directly proportional to the number of nucleons
( Mass No. or No. of protons & neutrons ).

If R is the radius of the nucleus having mass number A then,

𝟒 3
π R α A
𝟑

R α 𝑨𝟏/𝟑

R = Ro 𝑨𝟏/𝟑
Where Ro = 1.2 x 10 -15 is the range of nucleus size

Density of nucleus : Density of nucleus is the mass of the nucleus to the volume of the nucleus.

Let m be the average mass of the nucleon and A the mass number of the nucleus then the mass of
the nucleus is

M = mA
𝟒
& volume of nucleus will be V = π R3
𝟑
𝑴 𝒎𝑨
ρ= =
𝑽 𝟒/𝟑𝝅𝑹𝟑

putting R = R0 A1/3 in above equation we get

𝟑𝒎
ρ = 𝟒𝝅𝑹𝟎𝟑 = 2.3 x 1017 kg m-3
Thus the density of nucleus is a constant independent of A for all nuclei.

Einstein Mass Energy Relation

Einstein showed from his theory of special relativity that it is necessary to treat mass as another
form of energy. Before the advent of this theory of special relativity it was presumed that mass
and energy were conserved separately in a reaction. However, Einstein showed that mass is
another form of energy and one can convert mass-energy into other forms of energy

Thus if a substance loses a mass of ‘ m ’ an equivalent energy E is produced , where

E = mc2

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MASS DEFECT AND NUCLEAR BINDING ENERGY

Mass defect(Δ) : The difference between the sum of the masses of the nucleons
constituting a nucleus and the rest mass of the nucleus is called mass defect.

Rest Mass of the Nucleus Mass of the Nucleons

Mass Defect = ( Mass of Proton + Mass of Neutron ) – Mass of Nucleus

Δm = Z mp + ( A – Z ) mn - MN
Where

Z = Atomic No. of an Atom A = Atomic Mass of an Atom

mp = Mass of Proton , mn = Mass of neutron , MN = Mass of Nucleus

Ques. Why mass of nucleons is greater than mass of nucleus ?

Ans. When free neutrons come from infinity and combine with neutron to form the
nucleus an amount of mass (Δ m ) disappears . The disappeared mass reappears as
equivalent emergy known as binding energy (Δ Eb) which liberated during the
formation of the nucleus.

Nuclear binding energy(Δ Eb ) : It is defined as the minimum energy required to separate its
nucleons and place them at rest at infinite distance apart.

Using Einstein mass energy relation

ΔEb = (Δm) c2
ΔEb = [ Zmp + (A – Z )mn – MN ] c2
The energy Eb is called the binding energy of the nucleus. If we separate a nucleus into its
nucleons, we would have to supply a total energy equal to Eb, to those particles. Although we
cannot tear apart a nucleus in this way, the nuclear binding energy is still a convenient measure
of how well a nucleus is held together.

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Average Binding Energy per Nucleon ( Ebn ): It is the ratio of the binding energy Eb of a
nucleus to the number of the nucleons, A, in that nucleus.

𝑬𝒃
Ebn =
𝑨
It is the average binding energy required to remove a nucleon from the nucleus to infinite
distance.Higher the average binding energy per nucleon greater is the stability of the
nucleus.
Binding Energy per Nucleon (MeV )

(i) The binding energy per nucleon( Ebn ) is practically constant nearly (8.0 MeV) for the atomic
number of nuclei of middle mass number ( 30 < A < 170).

(ii) Ebn is lower for both light nuclei (A<30) and heavy nuclei (A>170).

We can draw some conclusions from these two observations:

(i) The force is attractive and sufficiently strong to produce a binding energy of a few MeV per
nucleon.

(ii) The constancy of the binding energy in the range 30 < A < 170 is a consequence of the fact that
the nuclear force is short-ranged.

(iii) A very heavy nucleus, say A = 240, has lower binding energy per nucleon compared to that of
a nucleus with A = 120. Thus if a nucleus A = 240 breaks into two A = 120 nuclei, nucleons get
more tightly bound. This implies energy would be released in the process. It has very important
implications for energy production through fission.

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(iv) Consider two very light nuclei (A≤ 10) joining to form a heavier nucleus. The binding energy
per nucleon of the fused heavier nuclei is more than the binding energy per nucleon of the lighter
nuclei. This means that the final system is more tightly bound than the initial system. Again
energy would be released in such a process of fusion.

NUCLEAR FORCE

The nuclear force is the force that binds the protons and neutrons in a nucleus together. This force
can exist between protons and protons, neutrons and protons or neutrons and neutrons. This
force is what holds the nucleus together.

The charge of protons, which is +1e, tends to push them away from each other with a strong
electric field repulsive force, following Coulomb’s law. But nuclear force is strong enough to keep
them together and to overcome that resistance at short range.

Properties of Nuclear Force

(i) The nuclear force is much stronger than the Coulomb force acting between charges or the
gravitational forces between masses. The nuclear binding force has to dominate over the Coulomb
repulsive force between protons inside the nucleus. This happens only because the nuclear force
is much stronger than the coulomb force. The gravitational force is much weaker than even
Coulomb force.

(ii) The nuclear force between two nucleons falls rapidly to zero as their distance is more than a
few femtometres. This leads to saturation of forces in a medium or a large-sized nucleus, which is
the reason for the constancy of the binding energy per nucleon.

(iii) The nuclear force between neutron-neutron, proton-neutron and proton-proton is

approximately the same. The nuclear force does not depend on the electric charge.

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RADIOACTIVITY

In 1896 Becquerel observed that uranium and some of its salts emit spontaneously some invisible
radiation which penetrates through opaque substances and effects the photographic plate .These
rays are called radioactive rays.

The spontaneous emission of rays from a substance is called radioactivity and such
substance are called radioactive substance.

Radioactivity was a nuclear phenomenon in which an unstable nucleus undergoes a decay. This is
referred to as radioactive decay.

Three types of radioactive decay occur in nature :

(i) α-decay in which a helium nucleus ( He) is emitted.

(ii) β-decay in which electrons or positrons (particles with the same mass as electrons , but with a
charge exactly opposite to that of electron) are emitted.

(iii) γ -decay in which high energy (hundreds of keV or more) photons are emitted.

NUCLEAR ENERGY

Nuclear energy is the energy released during the transformation of nuclei with less total binding
energy to nuclei with greater binding energy.

Two distinct ways of obtaining energy :

i. Nuclear Fission : It is a process in which a heavy nucleus after capturing a neutron splits
up into two lighter nuclei of comparable masses.

• The fragment products are radioactive nuclei; they emit b particles in succession to achieve
stable end products.
• The energy released (the Q value ) in the fission reaction of nuclei like uranium is of the order
of 200 MeV

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• The source of energy in nuclear reactors, which produce electricity, is nuclear fission. The
enormous energy released in an atom bomb comes from uncontrolled nuclear fission.

ii. Nuclear fusion : When two or more very light nuclei moving at very high speeds are fused
together to form a single nucleus , then the process is known as nuclear fussion.

• In the first reaction, two protons combine to form a deuteron and a positron with a release of
0.42 MeV energy.
• In reaction second two deuterons combine to form the light isotope of helium with a release of
3.27 MeV energy.
• In reaction third reaction two deuterons combine to form a triton and a proton with a release
of 4.03 MeV energy.

The fusion reaction in the sun is a multi-step process in which the hydrogen is burned into helium.
Thus, the fuel in the sun is the hydrogen in its core. The proton-proton (p, p) cycle by which this
occurs is represented by the following sets of reactions:

Controlled thermonuclear fusion

When fusion is achieved by raising the temperature of the system so that particles have enough
kinetic energy to overcome the coulomb repulsive behaviour, it is called thermonuclear fusion.

The natural thermonuclear fusion process in a star is replicated in a thermonuclear fusion device.
In controlled fusion reactors, the aim is to generate steady power by heating the nuclear fuel to a
temperature in the range of 108 K. At these temperatures, the fuel is a mixture of positive ions
and electrons (plasma). The challenge is to confine this plasma, since no container can stand such
a high temperature.