Spark image

Nuclear equations

As you may know we use a special way of writing the structure of a nucleus so that is easy to see what the proton and neutron numbers are.

This is how to write down the structure of carbon and uranium.



This means that in the nucleus of a carbon atom there are six protons and six neutrons making twelve particles (or nucleons). In a uranium nucleus there are 92 protons and 146 neutrons making 238 nuclear particles (nucleons)

The following equations show you how to write down the three main ways in which an unstable nucleus can decay.


22688Ra decays to 22286Rn + 42He   Alpha emission
8938Sr decays to 8939Y + 0-1e   Beta emission
6027Co decays to 6027Co + 00γ   Gamma emission


 
A VERSION IN WORD IS AVAILABLE ON THE SCHOOLPHYSICS CD
 
 
 
© Keith Gibbs 2020