Activity & The Decay Constant Since radioactive decay is spontaneous and random, it is useful to consider the average number of nuclei which are expected to decay per unit time This is known as...
The Random Nature of Radioactive Decay Radioactive decay is defined as: The spontaneous disintegration of a nucleus to form a more stable nucleus, resulting in the emission of an alpha, beta or gam...
Calculating Energy Released in Nuclear Reactions The binding energy is equal to the amount of energy released in forming the nucleus, and can be calculated using: E = (Δm)c2 Where: E = Binding ener...
Nuclear Fusion & Fission Nuclear Fusion Fusion is defined as: The fusing together of two small nuclei to produce a larger nucleus Low mass nuclei (such as hydrogen and helium) can undergo fusio...
Mass Defect & Binding Energy Experiments into nuclear structure have found that the total mass of a nucleus is less than the sum of the masses of its constituent nucleons This difference in mas...
Representing Simple Nuclear Reactions Nuclear reactions can be represented by balanced equations of nuclei in the AZX form AZX notation for atomic nuclei The top number A represents the nucleon num...
Energy & Mass Equivalence Einstein showed in his theory of relativity that matter can be considered a form of energy and hence, he proposed: Mass can be converted into energy Energy can be conv...
Calculating Discrete Energies The difference between two energy levels is equal to a specific photon energy The energy (hf) of the photon is given by: ΔE = hf = E2 - E1 Where, E1 = Energy of the hi...
Line Spectra Line spectra is a phenomenon which occurs when excited atoms emit light of certain wavelengths which correspond to different colours The emitted light can be observed as a series of co...
Atomic Energy Levels Electrons in an atom can have only certain specific energies These energies are called electron energy levels They can be represented as a series of stacked horizontal lines in...
The de Broglie Wavelength De Broglie proposed that electrons travel through space as a wave This would explain why they can exhibit behaviour such as diffraction He therefore suggested that electro...
Wave-Particle Duality Light waves can behave like particles, i.e. photons, and waves This phenomenon is called the wave-particle nature of light or wave-particle duality Light interacts with matter...
