Unit 5: Nuclear and Thermal Physics

Define binding energy

Describe the nature and properties of alpha radiation

Describe the nature and properties of beta radiation

Describe the nature and properties of gamma radiation

Describe the principles of Rutherford scattering

Compare the dangers of different radiation inside and outside the body

Describe how background radiation should be measured and taken account of in experiments

Describe the tracks of alpha, beta and gamma radiation in cloud and bubble chambers

Describe the inverse square law for gamma radiation

Define the Becquerel

Define radioactive decay constant

Define half life

Carbon-14 has a half life of 5700 years
Why is radiocarbon dating only useful if an artefact is older than a few hundred years old, but not older than 60 000 years?

Describe the features of the N against Z graph for nuclear stability

How do atomic number and mass number change in alpha particle emission?

How do atomic number and mass number change in beta minus particle emission?

How do atomic number and mass number change in beta plus particle emission?

How do atomic number and mass number change in gamma ray emission?

Carbon-14 decays by beta minus decay
What are the products of the decay?

Oxygen-15 decays by beta plus decay
What are the products of the decay?

Describe electron capture

Technetium-99m is used in radiotherapy
Describe why

Describe two methods to determine nuclear radius and the basic principles involved

Describe how nuclear radius depends on mass number

Define the mole

How is the mass defect used to calculate the energy released in fission and fusion reactions?

Explain how the binding energy curve shows that energy is released in both fission and fusion

In a nuclear power station, what is meant by chain reaction?

State one material that is used as a moderator in a nuclear power station

State one material that is used as a coolant in a nuclear power station

State one material that is used to make control rods in a nuclear power station

How is the chain reaction controlled in nuclear power stations

Uranium used in nuclear reactors needs to be enriched. What does this mean?

U-235 is fissile, U-238 is not. What happens to U-238 in a nuclear reactor?

What is the function of the moderator in a nuclear reactor?

What is the function of the coolant in a nuclear reactor?

How is different levels of radioactive waste dealt with?

Describe the shielding around a nuclear reactor

Define specific heat capacity

Define specific latent heat of fusion / vaporisation

Define the Avogadro constant

State Boyle's Law

State Charles' Law

State the pressure law

What is the equation of state for an ideal gas

What are the properties of an ideal gas?

What assumptions are made in the derivation of: pV = 1/3Nmc^2

How does increasing the temperature of a gas affect the movement of the molecules (at constant volume)?