Radioactivity is a natural process where a nucleus is broken into several parts. During that process, some energy is released into the surrounding environment. A nuclear reactor will use that energy to power a turbine which will create either electricity or a torque. The classic view is that one neutron will hit an unstable nucleus, which will break into two stable parts and will also emit at the same time a few more neutrons. In nuclear reactors, the usual fuel is the uranium 235, which can undergo a fission reaction. However, most of the uranium you can find by mining it is the uranium 238, which is not fissile. It can absorb one neutron and then can form, by nuclear reactions, the plutonium 239. Another reaction that the uranium 235 can undergo is the alpha decay, producing the thorium 231. This reaction is spontaneous. The relation used for expressing its radioactivity is: N(t) = 2Noe 11/12 In this equation, No is the initial amount of nuclear material, and t₁/2 is the half-life of the element. The half-life of uranium 235 is 703.8 million years, and its current abundance is 0.7204%. It has a mass of 235,043 93 g/mol. The energy emitted by this decay is 4.679 MeV. 1) What was the abundance of the uranium 235 when the Earth formed, 4.55 billion years ago? 2) What is the total energy emitted by the uranium 235 since the Earth formation? 3) What is the mass of pure uranium 235 you would need in order to observe one alpha decay per second? 4) The uranium 235 decay chain finish at the lead. If you do assume that the thorium created by the alpha decay will change instantaneously into lead, how much lead would you obtain after 2 billion years from a block of 1 ton of uranium 235, and 1 ton of natural uranium?

Radioactivity is a natural process where a nucleus is broken into several parts. During that process, some energy is released into the surrounding environment. A nuclear reactor will use that energy to power a turbine which will create either electricity or a torque. The classic view is that one neutron will hit an unstable nucleus, which will break into two stable parts and will also emit at the same time a few more neutrons. In nuclear reactors, the usual fuel is the uranium 235, which can undergo a fission reaction. However, most of the uranium you can find by mining it is the uranium 238, which is not fissile. It can absorb one neutron and then can form, by nuclear reactions, the plutonium 239. Another reaction that the uranium 235 can undergo is the alpha decay, producing the thorium 231. This reaction is spontaneous. The relation used for expressing its radioactivity is: N(t) = 2Noe 11/12 In this equation, No is the initial amount of nuclear material, and t₁/2 is the half-life of the element. The half-life of uranium 235 is 703.8 million years, and its current abundance is 0.7204%. It has a mass of 235,043 93 g/mol. The energy emitted by this decay is 4.679 MeV. 1) What was the abundance of the uranium 235 when the Earth formed, 4.55 billion years ago? 2) What is the total energy emitted by the uranium 235 since the Earth formation? 3) What is the mass of pure uranium 235 you would need in order to observe one alpha decay per second? 4) The uranium 235 decay chain finish at the lead. If you do assume that the thorium created by the alpha decay will change instantaneously into lead, how much lead would you obtain after 2 billion years from a block of 1 ton of uranium 235, and 1 ton of natural uranium?

Similar questions

Consider the following a-decay of the Uranium nucleus 236 U → 332Th + a. 90 (a) Show how the mass number (Aa) and atomic number (Za) of the alpha particle are obtained from this equation. (b) Calculate the Q-value (Qa) of the reaction. (c) Calculate the speed va = √2MQ of the alpha particle after it has been ejected from the parent nucleus, in terms of the speed of light c. M = -, mp and ma are the atomic masses (ma+mp) x ma mp of the daugher nucleus and the alpha particle, respectively. (d) Calculate the classical turning radius Re= 2Zpe²/Qa, where Zp is the atomic number of the daughter nucleus, and e² = 1.44 MeV. fm. (e) Calculate the decay probability Pa that the alpha particle will tunnel through the barrier. HINT: In calculating the probability, use the fact that ħc=197.327 MeV fm. The formula to use is given on page 5.
The Canadian CANDU reactor uses natural uranium, with the moderator consisting of heavy water (deuterium oxide). If the moderator were removed, what would happen to the uranium in the reactor? Nothing. The reactor would continue to run normally. The fission reactions would stop. The reactor would blow up like an atomic bomb.
E c) For a radio-nuclide, a number No of atoms at time t = 0 decays as N(t) = No e¯‹, where A is the decay constant. i) Derive the relationship between the half-life t₁ and the time constant □ = = 1/λ. ii) The radio-nuclide radium-226 has a half-life of 1600 years. Calculate the activity of one gram of radium in Becquerels. iii) Radium-226 decays to radon-222, known as the daughter product. The amount of a daughter product present will vary with time, Na(t). Sketch two graphs, with appropri- ate axes and labels, to show schematically how N(t) and Na(t) evolve if Na(0) = 0, for the two extreme cases where the daughter product is much more radioactive than the parent (\d >> \) and where the daughter product is much less radioactive than the parent (\a << λ). Given that the half-life of radon-226 is 3.8 days, indicate which graph is relevant and estimate the amount of radon in equilibrium with one mole of radium.
A neutron in a star makes an elastic head-on collision with a carb on nucleus initially at rest. The mass of the carbon nucleus is 12 times the mass of the neutron mn = 1.7 ×10^−27kg. The initial kinetic energy of the neutron is 1.6 × 10^−13J. a) Show that the final speed of the carbon nucleus, Vc, is given by (see image) where vn is the initial speed of the neutron.
On absorption of a single neutron, plutonium Pu-239 can undergo fission into xenon Xe-134 plus zirconium Zr-103 plus three neutrons. The masses of these nuclei are, mpu-239 = 239.052 amu, mxe-134 = 133.905 amu, and mzr-103 = 102.927 amu. Calculate the energy given off in this nuclear reaction. Back Alt+Left arrow
One of the fusion reactions that takes place as a star ages is called the triple alpha process. 3 42He → 126C Calculate the mass defect (in u) and the energy produced (in MeV) each time the reaction takes place.
Please help. This problem involves finding the amount of deuterium needed to generate a certain amount of energy. Thank you.
Ordinary hydrogen is sometimes called a perfect fuel, both because of its almost unlimited supply on Earth and because, when it burns, harmless water is the product of the combustion. So why don’t we abandon fission and fusion energies, not to mention fossil-fuel energy, and just use hydrogen?