Which one of the following is a correct representation of an alpha particle?

A

Which one of the following is a correct representation of a positron?

C

Which one of the following processes results in an increase in the atomic number?
A) gamma emission
B) positron emission
C) beta emission
D) alpha emission
E) corrosion

C

Of the following processes, which one changes the atomic number?
A) alpha emission
B) beta emission
C) electron capture
D) positron emission
E) All of these processes change the atomic numbers.

E

What radioactive element is used to diagnose medical conditions of the heart and arteries?
A) cobalt-60
B) thallium-201
C) radium-226
D) radon-222
E) thorium-234

B

In what type of radioactive decay does the atomic number of the product increase by one?
A) alpha
B) beta
C) gamma
D) positron emission
E) electron capture

B

Which type of radioactive decay results in no change in mass number and atomic number for the starting nucleus?
A) alpha
B) beta
C) positron emission
D) electron capture
E) gamma

E

Alpha decay produces a new nucleus whose ________ than those respectively of the original nucleus.
A) atomic number is 2 less and mass number is 2 less
B) atomic number is 1 less and mass number is 2 less
C) atomic number is 2 less and mass number is 4 less
D) atomic number is 2 more and mass number is 4 more
E) atomic number is 2 more and mass number is 2 less

C

What is the missing product from this reaction?

B

What is the atomic number of a neutron?
A) 3
B) 1
C) 2
D) 0
E) 4

D

What happens to the mass number and the atomic number of an element when it emits gamma radiation?
A) The mass number remains unchanged while the atomic number decreases by one.
B) The mass number decreases by four and the atomic number decreases by two.
C) The mass number increases by four and the atomic number increases by two.
D) The mass number remains unchanged while the atomic number increases by one.
E) The mass number and atomic numbers remain unchanged.

E

Atoms with the same atomic number and different mass numbers ________.
A) do not exist
B) are isomers
C) are isotopes
D) are allotropes
E) are resonance structures

C

How many radioactive decay series exist in nature?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 10

D

At approximately what number of protons, or neutrons, does the 1:1 ratio of protons to neutrons start to produce unstable nuclei?
A) 10
B) 20
C) 30
D) 50
E) 80

B

Carbon-11 decays by ________.
A) alpha emission
B) beta emission
C) positron emission
D) photon emission
E) neutron capture

C

The formation of krypton from rubidium decay is a result of ________.
A) alpha emission
B) beta emission
C) positron emission
D) electron capture
E) neutron capture

D

The mode of decay of 32P is ________.
A) alpha emission
B) beta emission
C) positron emission
D) electron capture
E) neutron capture

B

The belt of nuclear stability ends with the element ________.
A) lead
B) polonium
C) radon
D) astatine
E) bismuth

E

Which of these nuclides is most likely to be radioactive?

D

What is required for a nuclear transmutation to occur?
A) very high temperature
B) a corrosive environment
C) a particle to collide with a nucleus or neutron
D) spontaneous nuclear decay
E) gamma emission

C

In the nuclear transmutation, [see image], what is the bombarding particle?
A) an alpha particle
B) a beta particle
C) a gamma photon
D) a proton
E) a phosphorus nucleus

D

Cobalt-60 is produced by a three reaction process involving neutron capture, beta-emission, and neutron capture. The initial reactant in the production of cobalt-60 is ________.
A) 59Co
B) 56Fe
C) 58Fe
D) 61Co
E) 60Fe

C

The product of the nuclear reaction in which 28Si is subjected to neutron capture followed by alpha emission is ________.
A) 31S
B) 33S
C) 23Mg
D) 25Mg
E) 25Al

D

Transuranium elements have atomic numbers greater than ________.
A) 90
B) 91
C) 92
D) 93
E) 94

C

What is emitted in the nuclear transmutation [see image]?
A) an alpha particle
B) a beta particle
C) a neutron
D) a proton
E) a gamma photon

A

In the nuclear transmutation represented by [see image]? what is the product?
A) uranium-242
B) curium-245
C) curium-242
D) uranium-245
E) uranium-243

C

In the nuclear transmutation represented by [see image]?, what is the emitted particle?
A) neutron
B) proton
C) positron
D) alpha particle
E) electron

B

What is the product for the nuclear transmutation represented by [see image]?
A) carbon-12
B) carbon-16
C) nitrogen-16
D) carbon-14
E) nitrogen-15

D

Which one of the following requires a particle accelerator to occur?

D

Bombardment of uranium-238 with a deuteron (hydrogen-2) generates neptunium-237 and ________ neutrons.
A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5

C

The transmutation in which neptunium-239 is produced via bombardment of uranium-238 with a neutron is represented by ________.

D

The transmutation in which a curium-242 nucleus is bombarded with an alpha particle to produce a californium-245 nucleus is represented by ________.

E

Which one of the following can be done to shorten the half-life of the radioactive decay of uranium-238?
A) freeze it
B) heat it
C) convert it to UF6
D) oxidize it to the +2 oxidation state
E) none of the above

E

The beta decay of cesium-137 has a half-life of 30.0 years. How many years must pass to reduce a 25 mg sample of cesium 137 to 8.7 mg?
A) 46
B) 32
C) 3.2
D) 50
E) 52

A

The half-life of 218Po is 3.1 minutes. How much of a 155 gram sample remains after 0.40 hours?
A) 0.00067 g
B) 0.0072 g
C) 0.72 g
D) 0.0047 g
E) none of the above

C

Cesium-131 has a half-life of 9.7 days. What percent of a cesium-131 sample remains after 60 days?
A) 100
B) 0
C) 1.4
D) 98.6
E) more information is needed to solve the problem

C

The half-life for beta decay of strontium-90 is 28.8 years. A milk sample is found to contain 10.3 ppm strontium-90. How many years would pass before the strontium-90 concentration would drop to 1.0 ppm?
A) 92.3
B) 0.112
C) 186
D) 96.9
E) 131

D

The half-life of carbon-11 is 20.3 minutes. How much of a 100.0 mg sample remains after 1.50 hours?
A) 8.48 mg
B) 4.63 mg
C) 12.9 mg
D) 22.6 mg
E) 7.70 mg

B

The half-life of 131I is 0.220 years. How much of a 500.0 mg sample remains after 24 hours?
A) 496 mg
B) 560 mg
C) 219 mg
D) 405 mg
E) 337 mg

A

The half-life of 223Ra is 11.4 days. How much of a 200.0 mg sample remains after 600 hours?
A) 0.219 mg
B) 21.9 mg
C) .0302 mg
D) 43.8 mg
E) 6.04 mg

D

The half-life of 222Rn is 3.80 days. If a sample contains 36.0 g of Rn-222, how many years will it take for the sample to be reduced to 1.00 mg of Rn-222?
A) 19.7
B) 0.1575
C) 8.53
D) 0.0234
E) none of the above

B

The carbon-14 dating method can be used to determine the age of a ________.
A) flint arrowhead
B) papyrus scroll
C) stone axe head
D) clay pot
E) rock

B

The basis for the carbon-14 dating method is that ________.
A) the amount of carbon-14 in all objects is the same
B) carbon-14 is very unstable and is readily lost from the atmosphere
C) the ratio of carbon-14 to carbon-12 in the atmosphere is a constant
D) living tissue will not absorb carbon-14 but will absorb carbon-12
E) All of the above are correct.

C

Pb has a half-life of 22.3 years and decays to produce 206Hg. If you start with 7.50 g of 210Pb, how many grams of 206Hg will you have after 17.5 years?
A) 4.35
B) 3.15
C) 3.09
D) 0.0600
E) 1.71

B

The half-life of a radionuclide ________.
A) is constant
B) gets shorter with passing time
C) gets longer with passing time
D) gets shorter with increased temperature
E) gets longer with increased temperature

A

The curie is a measure of the ________.
A) number of disintegrations per second of a radioactive substance
B) total energy absorbed by an object exposed to a radioactive source
C) lethal threshold for radiation exposure
D) number of alpha particles emitted by exactly one gram of a radioactive substance
E) None of the above is correct.

A

What is the rate constant (in min-1) for the decay of this radionuclide?
A) 45
B) 32
C) 0.024
D) 0.032
E) 0.022

E

What is the half-life (in min) of this radionuclide?
A) 0.024
B) 0.022
C) 32
D) 0.032
E) 45

C

Cesium-137 undergoes beta decay and has a half-life of 30.0 years. How many beta particles are emitted by a 14.0-g sample of cesium-137 in three minutes?
A) 6.1 × 10¹³
B) 6.2 × 10²²
C) 8.4 × 10¹⁵
D) 1.3 × 10^-8
E) 8.1 × 10¹⁵

E

What is a phosphor?
A) an oxide of phosphorus
B) a substance that thermally reduces to phosphorus
C) a bioluminescent substance
D) a substance that emits light when excited by radiation
E) an alkali metal phosphide

D

Which one of the following devices converts radioactive emissions to light for detection?
A) Geiger counter
B) photographic film
C) scintillation counter
D) radiotracer
E) none of the above

C

Which one of the following is used as a radiotracer to study blood?
A) iron-59
B) technetium-99
C) sodium-23
D) iodine-131
E) phosphorus-32

A

Which one of the following is true?
A) Some spontaneous nuclear reactions are exothermic.
B) Some spontaneous nuclear reactions are endothermic.
C) All spontaneous nuclear reactions are exothermic.
D) There is no relationship between exothermicity and spontaneity in nuclear reactions.
E) All spontaneous nuclear reactions are endothermic.

C

The mass of a proton is 1.673 × 10^-24 g. The mass of a neutron is 1.675 × 10^-24 g. The mass of the nucleus of an 56Fe atom is 9.289 × 10^-23 g. What is the nuclear binding energy (in J) for a 56Fe nucleus? (c = 3.00 x 10⁸ m/s)
A) 2.57 × 10^-16
B) 7.72 × 10^-8
C) 8.36 × 10^-9
D) 7.72 × 10^-11
E) 6.07 × 10⁶

D

When two atoms of 2H are fused to form one atom of 4He, the total energy evolved is 3.83 x 10^-12J. What is the total change in mass (in kg) for this reaction? (c = 3.00 x 10⁸ m/s)
A) 1.28 × 10^-17
B) 4.26 × 10^-26
C) 3.45 × 10⁸
D) 1.15
E) 4.26 × 10^-29

E

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the binding energy (in J) of a ⁶⁰ ₂₇Co nucleus? (The mass of a cobalt-60 nucleus is 59.9338 amu. Speed of light = 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s.)
A) 2.74 × 10^-19
B) 9.12 × 10^-28
C) 4.94 × 10^-13
D) 8.20 × 10^-11
E) 2.74 × 10^-16

D

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the binding energy per nucleon (in J) of a ⁶⁰ ₂₇Co nucleus? (The mass of a cobalt-60 nucleus is 59.9338 amu. Speed of light = 3.00 × 10⁸ m/s.)
A) 1.37 × 10-12
B) 2.49 × 10-12
C) 3.04 × 10-12
D) 9.43 × 10-13
E) 7.01 × 10-14

A

What is the mass defect (in amu) of a ⁶⁰ ₂₈Ni nucleus if the nuclear mass is 59.9308 amu? The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu.
A) 0.5449
B) 0.5505
C) 1.2374
D) 1.3066
E) 28.7930

B

In terms of binding energy per nucleon, what element divides fission and fusion processes?
A) H
B) He
C) C
D) Fe
E) U

D

What type of reaction is known as a thermonuclear reaction?
A) fission
B) fusion
C) transmutation
D) beta emission
E) neutron emission

B

The main scientific difficulty in achieving a controlled fusion process is the ________.
A) enormous repulsion between nuclei being fused
B) enormous repulsion between the electrons of atoms being fused
C) very large number of positrons emitted
D) very large number of x-rays emitted
E) very large number of gamma rays emitted

A

What exposure level to radiation is fatal to most humans?
A) 100 rem
B) 200 rem
C) 600 rem
D) 300 rem
E) 1000 rem

C

Which one of the following natural radionuclides is the most abundant?
A) Potassium-40
B) Rubidium-87
C) Thorium-232
D) Uranium-238

A

Which one of the following forms of radiation can penetrate the deepest into body tissue?
A) alpha
B) beta
C) gamma
D) positron
E) proton

C

What percentage of electricity generated in the U.S. is from commercial nuclear plants?
A) 1%
B) 10%
C) 19%
D) 50%
E) 90%

C

By what process does thorium-230 decay to radium-226?
A) gamma emission
B) alpha emission
C) beta emission
D) electron capture
E) positron emission

B

The alpha decay of what isotope of what element produces lead-206?
A) polonium-210
B) radon-222
C) mercury-202
D) bismuth-208
E) thallium-204

A

In balancing the nuclear reaction [see image], the identity of element E is ________.
A) Pu
B) Np
C) U
D) Pa
E) Th

E

What is the identity of element E in the nuclear reaction [see image]?
A) B
B) C
C) O
D) N
E) none of the above

D

In balancing the nuclear reaction [see image], the identity of element E is ________.
A) Kr
B) Br
C) U
D) Se
E) none of the above

D

This reaction is an example of ________.

A) alpha decay
B) beta emission
C) gamma emission
D) positron emission
E) electron capture

A

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

D

The missing reactant from this reaction is ________.

C

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

B

The missing reactant from this reaction is ________.

A

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

A

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

B

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

E

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

B

The missing product from this reaction is ________.

A

This reaction is an example of ________.

A) alpha decay
B) beta decay
C) positron decay
D) electron capture
E) gamma emission

C

This reaction is an example of ________.

A) alpha decay
B) beta decay
C) positron decay
D) electron capture
E) gamma emission

B

This reaction is an example of ________.

A) alpha decay
B) beta decay
C) positron decay
D) electron capture
E) gamma emission

C

This reaction is an example of ________.

A) alpha decay
B) beta decay
C) positron decay
D) electron capture
E) gamma emission

D

The missing product in this reaction would be found in which group of the periodic table?

A) 1A
B) 2A
C) 3A
D) 8A
E) 7A

B

The missing product in this reaction combines with oxygen to form a compound with the formula ________.

A) M2O
B) MO
C) M
D) M2O3
E) M3O2

B

Radium undergoes alpha decay. The product of this reaction also undergoes alpha decay. What is the product of this second decay reaction?
A) Po
B) Rn
C) U
D) Th
E) Hg

A

41Ca decays by electron capture. The product of this reaction undergoes alpha decay. What is the product of this second decay reaction?
A) Ti
B) Ca
C) Ar
D) Cl
E) Sc

D

What is the mass number of a neutron?
A) 2
B) 1
C) 3
D) 4
E) 0

B

Nuclei above the belt of stability can lower their neutron-to-proton ratio by ________.
A) beta emission
B) gamma emission
C) positron emission
D) electron capture
E) Any of the above processes will lower the neutron-to-proton ratio.

A

What is the largest number of protons that can exist in a nucleus and still be stable?
A) 206
B) 50
C) 92
D) 83
E) 84

D

The three radioactive series that occur in nature end with what element?
A) Bi
B) U
C) Po
D) Pb
E) Hg

D

The largest number of stable nuclei have an ________ number of protons and an ________ number of neutrons.
A) even, even
B) odd, odd
C) even, odd
D) odd, even
E) even, equal

A

In the nuclear transmutation represented by ¹⁶ ₈O(p, α) ¹³ ₇N, the emitted particle is ________.
A) a beta particle
B) an alpha particle
C) a proton
D) a positron
E) a neutron

B

Bombardment of uranium-235 with a neutron generates tellurium-135, 3 neutrons, and ________.
A) zirconium-98
B) krypton-101
C) krypton-103
D) strontium-99
E) zirconium-99

A

The reaction shown below is responsible for creating 14C in the atmosphere. What is the bombarding particle?

A) alpha particle
B) electron
C) neutron
D) positron
E) proton

C

How many neutrons are emitted when a californium-249 nucleus (Z=98) is bombarded with a carbon-12 nucleus to produce a ²⁵⁷ ₁₀₄Rf nucleus?
A) one
B) three
C) two
D) four
E) zero

D

How many neutrons are emitted when a californium-249 nucleus (Z=98) is bombarded with a nitrogen-15 nucleus to produce a ²⁶⁰ ₁₀₅Db nucleus?
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) one
E) zero

C

What order process is radioactive decay?
A) zeroth
B) first
C) second
D) third
E) fourth

B

Due to the nature of the positron, ________ is actually detected in positron emission tomography.
A) alpha radiation
B) beta radiation
C) gamma radiation
D) x-ray emission
E) neutron emission

C

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the mass defect (in amu) of a ⁶⁰ ₂₇Co nucleus? (The mass of a cobalt-60 nucleus is 59.9338 amu.)
A) 27.7830
B) 0.5489
C) 0.5405
D) 0.0662
E) 0.4827

B

What is the typical percent of uranium-235 in the enriched UO2 pellets used in nuclear reactors?
A) 0.7
B) 1
C) 3
D) 10
E) 14

C

On average, ________ neutrons are produced by every fission of a uranium-235 nucleus.
A) 4
B) 3.5
C) 1
D) 2.4
E) 2

D

What drives the turbine in a nuclear power plant?
A) the moderator
B) steam
C) the control rods
D) the primary coolant
E) UF6 gas

B

Who is credited with first achieving fission of uranium-235?
A) Fermi
B) Rutherford
C) Curie
D) Dalton
E) Faraday

A

When ionizing radiation enters the body, what is the predominant free radical produced?
A) H
B) H3O
C) protein
D) OH
E) H2O

D

A ________ is a highly reactive substance that contains one or more unpaired electrons.
A) cation
B) free radical
C) anion
D) protein

B

What happens to the mass number and the atomic number of an element when it undergoes alpha decay?
A) The mass number decreases by 4 and the atomic number decreases by 2.
B) The mass number does not change and the atomic number increases by 1.
C) The mass number increases by 4 and the atomic number does not change.
D) The mass number increases by 2 and the atomic number decreases by 1.
E) The mass number does not change and the atomic number increases by 2.

A

Which one of the following is a correct representation of beta particle?

A

Which one of the following processes results in a decrease in the number of neutrons?
A) alpha emission
B) gamma emission
C) positron emission
D) corrosion
E) electron capture

A

In what type of radioactive decay does the atomic number of the product decrease by one?
A) positron emission
B) corrosion
C) alpha
D) beta
E) gamma

A

What is the missing product from this reaction?

A

When an atom of an element undergoes beta decay, its proton count will change by ________ and its neutron count will change by ________.
A) +1, -1
B) 0, 0
C) -1, +1
D) -2, -2
E) -1, -1

A

What is the missing product from this reaction?

A

What is the missing product from this reaction?

A

What is the missing product from this reaction?

A

What is the missing product from this reaction?

A

The product of the nuclear reaction in which 40Ar is subjected to neutron capture followed by alpha emission is ________.
A) 37S
B) 41Ar
C) 36S
D) 45Ca
E) 35Ar

A

The half-life of cobalt-60 is 5.20 yr. How many milligrams of a 2.000-mg sample remain after 9.50 years?
A) 0.565
B) 7.03 × 10^-22
C) 7.076
D) 1.095
E) 1.435

A

What percentage of a radioactive sample remains after 175.0 yr if it has a of 28.8 years?
A) 84.8
B) 0.230
C) 16.5
D) 6.08
E) 1.48

E

What percentage of a sample remains after 50.0 min if it has a half-life of 20.4 min.?
A) 8.62
B) 66.5
C) 40.8
D) 18.3
E) 2.45

D

A rock contains 0.153 mg of lead-206 for each milligram of uranium-238. The half-life for the decay of uranium-238 to lead-206 is 4.5 × 10⁹ yr. The rock was formed ________ years ago.
A) 6.89 × 10⁸
B) 5.60 × 10⁸
C) 7.33 × 10⁸
D) 1.06 × 10⁹
E) 8.08 × 10⁸

D

131I has a half-life of 8.04 days. Assuming you start with a 1.03 mg sample of 131I, how many mg will remain after 13.0 days?
A) 0.326
B) 0.268
C) 0.422
D) 0.0781
E) 0.336

E

The decay of a radionuclide with a half-life of 3.3 × 10⁵ years has a rate constant (in yr^-1) equal to ________.
A) 4.8 × 10⁵
B) 2.1 × 10^-6
C) 4.2 × 10^-6
D) 2.8 × 10³
E) 5.9 × 10^-8

B

What is the age in years of a mineral sample that has a mass ratio of 40Ar to 40K of 0.330? Potassium-40 decays to argon-40 with a half-life of 1.27 × 10⁹ yr.
A) 3.85 × 10⁹
B) 5.23 × 10⁸
C) 1.77 × 10⁹
D) 3.62 × 10⁸
E) 2.55 × 10⁹

B

If we start with 1.000 g of strontium-90, 0.805 g will remain after 9.00 yr. This means that the half-life of strontium-90 is ________ yr.
A) 7.74
B) 11.2
C) 28.8
D) 7.25
E) 41.6

C

If we start with 1.000 g of cobalt-60, 0.400 g will remain after 7.00 yr. This means that the half-life of cobalt-60 is ________ yr.
A) 12.1
B) 17.5
C) 2.80
D) 5.30
E) 7.65

D

A freshly prepared sample of curium-243 undergoes 3312 disintegrations per second. After 8.00 yr, the activity of the sample declines to 2591 disintegrations per second. What is the half-life in years of curium-243?
A) 22.6
B) 6.26
C) 10.2
D) 1.36
E) 32.6

A

The beta decay of cesium-137 has a half-life of 30.0 years. How many years must pass to reduce a 30 mg sample of cesium 137 to 5.2 mg?
A) 76 years
B) -76 years
C) 38 years
D) 0.040 years
E) 25 years

A

The half-life of 218Po is 3.1 minutes. How much of a 170 gram sample remains after 0.64 hours?
A) 0.032 g
B) 150 g
C) 31 g
D) 4.7 × 10^-10 g
E) None of the original sample will remain.

A

Cesium-131 has a half-life of 9.7 days. What percent of a cesium-131 sample remains after 62 days?
A) 1.2 %
B) 100 %
C) 0 %
D) 99 %
E) 62%

A

The half-life of carbon-11 is 20.3 minutes. How much of a 100.0 mg sample remains after 1.6 hours?
A) 3.77 mg
B) 0.0377 mg
C) 94.7 mg
D) 1.75 × 10^-89 mg
E) 99.9 mg

A

210Pb has a half-life of 22.3 years and decays to produce 206Hg. If you start with of 210Pb, how many grams of 206Hg will you have after 15.8 years?
A) 4.60 g
B) 2.83 g
C) 9.20 g
D) 2.30 g
E) 12.5 g

D

Carbon-11 decays by positron emission. The decay occurs with a release of 2.87 × 10¹¹ J per mole of carbon-11. What mass (g) is converted to energy when 5.00 g of carbon-11 undergoes this radioactive decay?
A) 1.45 × 10^-6
B) 4.35 × 10⁵
C) 6.90 × 10²
D) 1.45 × 10^-3
E) 1.59 × 10^-2

D

How much energy (in J) is produced when 0.067 g of matter is converted to energy?
A) 6.0 × 10¹⁸
B) 6.0 × 10¹²
C) 2.0 × 10⁴
D) 6.0 × 10¹⁵
E) 2.0 × 10⁷

B

The mass of a proton is 1.673 × 10^-24g. The mass of a neutron is 1.675 × 10^-24g. The mass of the nucleus of an 59Fe atom is 9.787 × 10^-23 g. What is the nuclear binding energy (in J) for A 59Fe nucleus? (c = 3.00 x 10⁸m/s)
A) 8.13 × 10^-11 J
B) 2.71 × 10^-19 J
C) 8.13 × 10^-8 J
D) 4.00 × 10^-9 J
E) -9.74 × 10^-10 J

A

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the binding energy (in J) of a 62Co nucleus?
(The mass of a cobalt-62 nucleus is 61.9341 amu. The speed of light is 3.00 x 10⁸m/s.)
A) 8.46 × 10^-11 J
B) 8.46 × 10^-19 J
C) 4.15 × 10^-9 J
D) 5.09 × 10¹⁶ J
E) -1.12 × 10^-9 J

A

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the binding energy per nucleon (in J) of a 59Co nucleus?
(The mass of a cobalt-59 nucleus is 58.9332 amu. The speed of light is 3.00 x 10⁸m/s.)
A) 8.46 × 10^-12 J
B) 8.46 × 10¹³ J
C) 4.15 × 10³⁴ J
D) 5.09 × 10¹² J
E) -1.12 × 10¹⁰ J

A

The mass of a proton is 1.00728 amu and that of a neutron is 1.00867 amu. What is the mass defect (in amu) of a 57Ni nucleus?
(The mass of a nickel-57 nucleus is 56.938 amu. )
A) 0.5155 amu
B) 28.76 amu
C) -0.4932 amu
D) 0.5141 amu
E) 1.031 amu

A

What happens in the nucleus of an atom that undergoes positron emission?

A proton is converted to a neutron and a positron.

What is the predominant isotope of uranium?

238U

What happens to the atomic mass number and the atomic number of a radioisotope when it undergoes alpha emission?

The mass number drops by 4 and the atomic number decreases by 2.

What are beta particles?

high speed electrons emitted by an unstable nucleus

⁴ ₂He represents ________.

an alpha particle

What isotope of what element is produced if uranium-238 undergoes alpha decay?

Answer: thorium-234

Stable nuclei with low atomic numbers, up to ________, have a neutron to proton ratio of approximately 1:1.

20

The first nuclear transmutation resulted in the conversion of nitrogen-14 to ________.

oxygen-17

Conversion of one nucleus into another was first demonstrated in 1919 by ________.

Rutherford

The initial element used to make cobalt-60 for cancer radiation therapy is ________.

iron; Fe

What is the rate constant for the decay of some unknown radioactive compound if the half-life for the beta decay is 1.3 × 10⁹ years?

5.3 × 10^-10 year-1

________ discovered radioactivity.

Becquerel

Carbon-11, fluorine-18, oxygen-15 and nitrogen-13 are all used in the clinical diagnostic technique known as ________.

positron emission tomography; PET

The conversion of matter to energy and mass loss occurs in ________ reactions?

nuclear

Control rods in a nuclear reactor are composed of boron and ________.

an alloy of silver, indium, and cadmium

The amount of fissionable material necessary to maintain a chain reactions is called the ________.

critical mass

What was the purpose of the Manhattan project?

to build a bomb based on nuclear fission

When living tissue is irradiated most of the energy is absorbed by ________.

water

The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) values of beta rays, gamma rays, and alpha rays are ________, respectively.

1,1,10

The major type of cancer caused by radiation is ________.

leukemia

Radioactive seeds that are implanted into a tumor are coated with ________ to stop alpha and beta ray penetration.

platinum

Gamma radiation only changes the atomic number but not the mass number of a nucleus.

false

Positron emission causes an increase of one in the atomic number.

false

The neutron/proton ratio of stable nuclei increases with increasing atomic number.

true

Charged particles are accelerated because the faster they move there is a greater chance of producing a nuclear reaction.

true

Radioactive decay is a first order kinetic process.

true

In radioactive dating, the ratio of carbon-12 to carbon-14 is related to the time of death of the animal or plant under investigation.

false

In the formula k = 0.693/t1/2, k is the decay constant.

true

The energy produced by the sun is the result of nuclear fusion.

true

The SI unit of an absorbed dose of radiation is the gray.

true

The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) is tenfold greater for gamma radiation than for alpha radiation.

false

Electrons do not exist in the nucleus, yet beta emission is ejection of electrons from the nucleus. How does this happen?

A neutron breaks apart to produce a proton and an electron in the nucleus. The proton remains in the nucleus and the electron is ejected.

List the common particles and their symbols used in descriptions of radioactive decay and nuclear transformations.

When an isotope undergoes electron capture, what happens to the captured electron?

It combines with a proton in the nucleus to form a neutron.

The use of radioisotopes in tracing metabolism is possible because ________.

all isotopes of an element have identical chemical properties