Ten questions. The result tells you which lessons you may skip.
A nucleus lies below the stability belt: it has too many protons for its neutrons. It moves towards the belt by
Radium-226 (\(Z = 88\)) gives out an alpha particle. The daughter has
Polonium-210 at rest decays by alpha emission with \(Q = 5.41\,\text{MeV}\). The kinetic energy of the alpha particle is about
Carbon-14 (\(Z = 6\)) decays by beta-minus decay. The daughter is
The electrons of one beta emitter come out with every energy from nearly zero up to Q because
Uranium-238 (\(Z = 92\)) decays through a series to lead-206 (\(Z = 82\)). The numbers of alpha and beta-minus decays are
A nuclide has a decay constant of \(0.1\) per hour. Its mean life is
What fraction of a radioactive sample is left after three half-lives?
A nucleus can decay by two routes. Alone, they would give half-lives of \(3\,\text{h}\) and \(6\,\text{h}\). Its half-life is
Ancient wood has a quarter of the carbon-14 activity per gram of fresh wood. The half-life of carbon-14 is 5730 years. The wood is about