Alpha Decay

Properties of Alpha particle:

1. α particle is deflected by electric and magnetic fields.

2. Due to the source, its velocity varies from 1.4 x 107 ms-1 to 2.1 x 107 ms-1.

3. Because of its large mass, the penetrating power is very small and can be easily
stopped by an aluminum sheet of 0.02 mm thick.

4. Because of large mass and velocity, it has large ionizing power. Each α produces
thousands of ions before being absorbed.

5. At normal pressure in air, the range of α varies from 3 to 8 cm.

6. Alpha produces fluorescence in certain substances, like zinc-sulphide.

7. Αlpha particles affected photographic plate slightly.

8. Alpha, α – particles are scattered while passing through thin metal foils. Most of
the α – particles are scattered at small angles, but a few of them are scattered at
an angle more than 900 also.
Very small but definite probability of tunneling through barrier
Very small but definite probability
Theory of alpha decay:
;
 The absorption of alpha-particles : range, ionization,
and stopping power.
Alpha-particles are easily absorbed; those emitted in radioactive
disintegrations can generally be absorbed by a sheet of paper, by
an aluminum foil 0.004 cm thick, or by several centimeters of air.

If the particles emitted by a source in air are counted by counting

the number of scintillations on a zinc sulfide screen, it is found
that their number stays practically constant up to a certain
distance R from the source, and then drops rapidly to zero. This
distance R is called the range of the particles, and is related to
the initial energy of the particles. If measured ranges are plotted
against energies determined by magnetic deflection methods,
the resulting range-energy curve can be used to find unknown
energies from measured ranges.
 Stopping power
Another quantity of great value in the treatment of the absorption of charged
particles by matter is the stopping power, defined as the energy lost by the
particle per unit path in the substance,
𝑑𝐸
𝑆 𝐸 =−
𝑑𝑥
where E is the classical kinetic energy. The stopping power varies with the
energy of the particle, and the range of the particle is given by
𝑅 𝐸0
𝑑𝐸
𝑅 = න 𝑑𝑥 = න
𝑆(𝐸)
0 0
where E0 is the initial kinetic energy. If the range is known as a function of
energy, the stopping power can be obtained from the relation
𝑑𝑅 1
=
𝑑𝐸 𝑆(𝐸)
The energy lost by a nonrelativistic charged particle per unit
length of its path in a given substance can be expressed in the
following form derived from theory
𝑑𝐸 4𝜋𝑧 2 𝑒 4 𝑁 2𝑚𝑒 𝑣 2
𝑆 𝐸 = − = 𝑍𝑙𝑛
𝑑𝑥 𝑚𝑒 𝑣 2 𝐼

where ze and v are the charge and the speed of the particle,
respectively, me is the mass of an electron, Z is the atomic
number of the substance, N is the number of atoms per cubic
centimeter of the substance, and I is a quantity, called the
average excitation potential of an atom of the substance,
which must be obtained experimentally.
 Fine structure of Alpha article
Until 1930 it was thought that with the exception of the rare long-range
particles, the a-particles emitted by an active nuclide all had the same initial
energy.

The normal a-particles emitted by some active nuclides fall into several
closely spaced velocity groups. The velocities and energies of the different
groups differ so little that the ranges of all the particles lie within the region
of straggling. For this reason the different groups could be separated only in a
magnetic spectrograph of high resolving power. The discrete, closely spaced
components of the a-rays are said to form a spectrum, or to show fine
structure.
 Fine structure of Alpha article

A great deal of research has been done on a-particle spectra. The

spectra of many natural and artificial a-emitters are now known.

Thus, Th232 has two groups, with energies 3.994 MeV(76%) and 3.936
MeV(24%).

Th230 has at least four groups, with energies of 4.682 MeV(76.3%),

4.615 MeV(23.4%), 4.471 MeV(0.2%) and 4.436 MeV(0.07%); it may
have several other groups with very small abundances.

Ra226 has three groups with energies of 4.777 MeV(94.3%), 4.593

MeV(5.7%), and 4.34 MeV(0.01%).
 Alpha disintegration energy and its kinetic energy
it is necessary to distinguish between the kinetic energy of an a-particle and
the total energy change in an a decay process; the latter quantity has been
called the a-disintegration energy. When an a-particle is emitted, the product,
or residual, nucleus recoils, carrying with it a certain amount of energy.
The a-disintegration energy is the sum of the kinetic energies of the
a-particle and the product nucleus, and is found as follows.

The principle of conservation of momentum requires that

𝑀𝑣 = 𝑀𝑟 𝑉𝑟
where M, is the mass of the product nucleus, v, is its velocity, and the
quantities without subscripts refer to the a-particle. Where relativistic. effects
are neglected, the a-disintegration energy E , is given by
1 2
1 2 2
𝐸𝛼 = 𝑀𝑣 + 𝑀𝑟 𝑣𝑟
2 2
Using the first equation we find,
1 2
𝑀
𝐸𝛼 = 𝑀𝑣 1 +
2 𝑀𝑟
This is the relation between alpha disintegration energy and its kinetic energy.
The a-particle spectrum of Bi212 is given in detail in the
Table below:
Group Alpha Relative Alpha Difference
article number disintegratio of alpha- disintegration
energy, of n energy, energy from that
MeV articles MeV of a0 group, Mev
(%)
a0 6.086 27.2 6.203 0.000

a1 6.047 69.9 6.163 0.040

0.329
a2 5.765 1.7 5.874 0.329

a3 5.622 0.15 5.730 0.473

a4 5.603 1.1 5.711 0.492

a5 5.478 0.016 5.584 0.619

The interpretation of complex a-spectra in terms of nuclear energy
levels can be illustrated by the case of Bi212 , which emits six groups of a-
particles with energies listed in the previous Table.

The most energetic particles have a kinetic energy of 6.086 MeV

corresponding to an a-disintegration energy of 6.203 MeV. It is supposed that
a Bi212 nucleus always releases 6.203 MeV of energy when it decays by a-
emission to form a nucleus of Tl208, and that this amount of energy is
associated with one of the most energetic a-particles. The emission of one of
these particles is assumed to leave the product nucleus in its lowest energy
state, or ground state. All of the disintegration energy has gone into the
kinetic energy of the a-particle and the recoil energy of the Tl208 nucleus.
Suppose now that a Bi212 nucleus emits an a-particle of the a1 group for which
the disintegration energy is 6.163 MeV or 0.040 MeV less than the total
available a-disintegration energy. The Tl208 nucleus, which retains the 0.040
MeV of energy, should be left in an excited state; it might be expected to
undergo a transition to the ground state by emitting electro-
magnetic radiation. If this is the case, the radiation should appear in the form
of gamma ray with an energy of 0.040 MeV.
Decay scheme
Gamma rays of this energy are, in fact, found experimentally when Bi212
undergoes a decay. By extending this analysis we can postulate the existence
of at least five excited states of the Tl208 nucleus and we would expect to
find additional transitions from more excited states to less excited states.

These transitions should involve the emission of Gamma-rays. Experimentally,

eight Y-rays have so far been identified, with energies of 0.040, 0.144,
0.164, 0.288, 0.328, 0.432, 0.452, and 0.472 MeV respectively. Each of
these Y-rays can be matched to an energy difference between two excited
states, and the energies of the a-particle groups and the Y rays form a
consistent scheme. As a result of the correlation between the energies of the
a-particles and the Y-rays, i t is possible to construct nuclear energy level
diagrams analogous to the atomic energy level diagrams.
The level diagram for the daughter nucleus is usually shown together with the
decay data for the parent nucleus and the result is called a decay scheme. The
diagonal lines represent the different a-particle groups observed in the decay
of Bi212; the disintegration energies are also shown in this example. The
vertical lines represent the gamma-rays found experimentally. Each way
corresponds to the energy difference between two states, although there
is some ambiguity in the case of the 0.144-MeV. Gamma-ray which may
correspond, within the limits of experimental error, to either of two pwible
transitions. It is evident from the diagram that Y-rays are not observed for all
transitions which seem to be possible. The absence of these Y-rays may
be caused either by their small intensity, which may make them hard to
detect, or by nuclear selection rules which may make the probability of
these transitions very small. There is a theory which accounts in a satisfactory
way for the radiations from excited nuclei and the selection rules
involve the angular momentum and parity of the initial and final states.
 Geiger Nuttall rule

The longest lived nuclides emit the least energetic a-particles, while the
shortest-lived nuclides emit the most energetic particles. These empirical
facts were first correlated in the Geiger-Nuttall rule, which stated that when
the logarithm of the disintegration constant was plotted against the
logarithm of the range for the a-emitting members in the same radioactive
series, an approximately straight line was obtained.

The lines for the three natural series turned out t o be practically parallel. The
rule may be represented by the formula
log λ = A log R + B.
The constant A is the slope of the line and has nearly the same value for the
three series, but B has different values. The Geiger Nuttall rule is illustrated in
Figure.
It was noted that the mean range was found empirically to be
proportional to E3/2, where E is the kinetic energy of the a-
particle.
The Geiger-Nuttall rule may then be written in the form
log λ = A' log E + B'
which expresses the relationship between the logarithm of the
disintegration constant and that of the energy.
Geiger – Nuttall rule