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The Nuclear Reactions Involved in The Synthesis of New Elements

The document discusses nuclear reactions that can synthesize new elements, including nuclear transmutation reactions where a nucleus reacts with a subatomic particle to form a more massive nucleus. It describes how transuranium elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 were synthesized using particle accelerators and nuclear reactions like alpha decay, beta decay, and spontaneous fission. These reactions allow unstable heavy elements to undergo radioactive decay into more stable daughter nuclei.

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Christian Isip
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2K views3 pages

The Nuclear Reactions Involved in The Synthesis of New Elements

The document discusses nuclear reactions that can synthesize new elements, including nuclear transmutation reactions where a nucleus reacts with a subatomic particle to form a more massive nucleus. It describes how transuranium elements with atomic numbers greater than 92 were synthesized using particle accelerators and nuclear reactions like alpha decay, beta decay, and spontaneous fission. These reactions allow unstable heavy elements to undergo radioactive decay into more stable daughter nuclei.

Uploaded by

Christian Isip
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Nuclear Reactions Involved in the Synthesis of New Elements

Objective
In this lesson, you should be able to write the nuclear reactions involved in the synthesis of new elements.

Nuclear reaction is the process where two nuclei collide to produce new nuclei. There are two types of nuclear reaction:
nuclear transmutation and nuclear decay reaction.

What happens during nuclear transmutation?

Learn about it!


Nuclear Transmutation
A nuclear transmutation is a reaction involving the transformation of one element into another element. It happens when a
nucleus reacts with a subatomic particle to produce a more massive nucleus. It occurs only on special conditions such as the
collision of the target nuclei with a beam of particles with high energies.

In 1919, the first successful transmutation was done by Rutherford. He bombarded nitrogen nuclei with alpha particles to form
oxygen nuclei. In the next decades, other nuclear reactions were discovered by bombarding other elements with alpha
particles. However, since these particles have a strong repulsive force with the target nuclei (both are positively charged), the
progress in discovering elements was slow. Scientists then tried other particles with higher energies. In 1932, major
advancements in nuclear reactions took place. Particle accelerators, which use a projectile of high-energy particles, were
invented.

Transuranium Elements

Transuranium elements are elements whose atomic numbers are greater than 92. They are all unstable and undergo
radioactive decay. Many of the transuranium elements were prepared using particle accelerators, and much of this work was
facilitated by a group of scientists led by the American chemist, Glenn Theodore Seaborg, and later, nuclear scientist Albert
Ghiorso in the University of California.

The most effective way of preparing transuranium elements specifically in the lower members of the series (elements 93 to
95), was through nitrogen bombardment. As for the heavier transuranium elements (96 to 101), they were generally prepared
with high-energy positive ions which include the use of deuterons, carbon nuclei, and ions.
Nuclear Decay Reaction
Nuclear decay reaction, also known as radioactive decay, is a reaction in which the nucleus emits radiation and transforms
into a new nucleus. The parent nuclei are unstable, and the resulting daughter nuclei are more stable, having lower mass and
energy. Transuranium elements are unstable that they undergo radioactive decay resulting in more stable elements.

The nuclear decay reactions involved in the synthesis of transuranium elements are alpha decay, beta decay, and
spontaneous fission.

Alpha Decay

The alpha decay is a reaction that emits helium-4 nucleus or alpha particle, 24α. This decay produces a daughter nucleus
with an atomic number reduced by two, and a mass number reduced by four compared with the parent nucleus. Most nuclei
with mass numbers greater than 200 undergo this type of decay. The general reaction can be represented as

where A is the mass number, Z is the atomic number, X represents the parent nucleus, and Y represents the daughter nucleus.

For example, neptunium-237, the most abundant isotope of neptunium, undergoes alpha decay to form protactinium-233. The
nuclear reaction is represented as

Beta Decay

In beta decay, a neutron is converted into a proton and emits an electron in the form of a beta particle. The atomic number
goes up by one while its mass number remains the same. The general reaction can be represented as

For example, curium-249 undergoes decay by beta particle emission to form berkelium-249. The balanced equation for this
reaction is represented as

Spontaneous Fission

In spontaneous fission, the nucleus breaks into pieces into different atomic numbers and mass numbers. This occurs in
very massive nuclei. For instance, californium-254 undergoes spontaneous fission, making various sets of fission products.
One possible set can be represented as

Tip
In nuclear reactions, the parent nucleus is on the left side of the equation. The daughter nucleus and the emitted particle are
on the right side. The number of nuclei is always conserved.
Try it!

What do you think?


Can less massive elements, such as lead, be transformed into gold through particle accelerators?

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