Nuclear Physics

1 Nucleus
By 1897, electrons were identified as negatively charged particles and that
they are found in atoms. It was also known that the mass of an electron was
about 1/1000 the mass of the lightest positive ion(hydrogen). Since it was
known that atoms were neutral, physicists knew atoms contain positive
charges which were thought to be evenly spread out. Thus the atomic
picture at the beginning of the 20th century consisted of small light electrons
embedded in a uniform positively charged sphere. In 1907, Rutherford and
Thomas Royds proved that  particles from radioactive sources were in fact
doubly charged helium ions. From 1907 to 1912, Geiger and Marsden under
the guidance of Rutherford carried out a series of experiment involving
bombardment of thin films by  particles. Those experiments led to the idea
of a nucleus in an atom. Subsequently, neutron as a constituent of the
nucleus was discovered in the 1930s.

Rutherf ord’s -scattering Experiment

Rutherford’s set-up involves firing -particles towards a gold foil just a few
atoms thick. The set-up needs to be in a vacuum as alpha particles can be
stopped by a few cm of air. A fluorescent screen will glow at the points of
impact by -particles.

+90
fluorescent
screen rotating
microscope

0
alpha
source gold foil
few atoms
thick
3 observations of
-particles
Fig. 1.1 90 scattered by gold
foil:
Experimental Observ ations 1 Very few
1. Very few particles (about 1 in 8000) suffer deflections of more than 90 deflected
with > 90
2. Most particles passed straight through the foil without any deflection
2 Most had no
from their original incident direction.
deflection
3. Some were deflected with small angles. 3 Some
Deductions deflected with
small angles
1. For a positive -particle to be deflected more than 90, it must have
encountered a positively charged and very massive particle(nucleus) Deductions from
knowing that electrons are too light to deflect the -particles. Also, the above:
electrons are not clustered together with the nuclei, as that would Point 1 
render the clusters neutral and unable to repel the -particles. existence of
2. A large majority of the particles are not deflected, indicating a lot of massive &
empty space between the nuclei i.e. the nuclei are very small. positive nuclei
separate from
3. The observation that a small number of -particles have small
electrons.
deflection angles is consistent with the picture constructed so far. These
small angle deflections must be due to -particles which happened to Points 2 & 3 
approach close to the small positive nuclei. nuclei are very
small

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 very far approach (Fig. 1.2) The
bisector of the
1  2 2 angle between
the line of
fairly close approach
1 approach and
line of departure
direct approach must pass
nucleus Fig. 1.2
through the
The bisector of the angle between the line of approach and line of departure nucleus.
must pass through the nucleus.

scattered -
particles
Note: vertical scale is On linear scales, the plot
107 logarithmic so the would look like:
106 number of particles at Relative number
5
20 is at least 10 times of -particles
10 scattered at
of the number at 40. scattered -
104 various angles is
particles
3
shown in plots in
10 Fig. 1.3.
2
10
10
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 -90 +90

Fig. 1.3 deflection angle deflection angle

Present day data shows that nuclei ranges in size from about 2 to 15 fm (1
fm = 1  10-15 m) while atoms range from 30 to 300 pm (1 pm = 1  10-12 m).
If a 10 fm nucleus were compared with a 100 pm atom the situation would be
as if a nucleus is 1 mm across and the atom is 10 m across. There is really a
lot of empty space inside an atom.

Definitions and Notations

By the 1920s, physicists knew that the nucleus was made up of one or more
positive particles called protons. By the 1930s, the neutral particle neutron
as the final constituent of the nucleus was discovered. Thus the current idea
of a nucleus consists of protons and neutrons surrounded by some electrons.
Each element has a unique number of protons and equal number of
electrons when the atom is neutral.

The definitions of
The symbol to denote a nuclide is AZ X where
various terms
nuclide - is a species or type of nucleus made up of a specific and notations
combination of protons and neutrons. are shown in the
nucleon - is either a proton or neutron. table on the left.
A - is the mass number which is the number of nucleons.
Z - is the atomic number which is the number of protons.
X - a chemical symbol identifying which element it is. An
element is identified by the atomic number.
isotopes - nuclides which have the same atomic number Z but
different mass number A.

Hence 168 O represents a nuclide of the element of oxygen and this nuclide
has 16 nucleons out of which 8 are protons. Sometimes oxygen atoms have
different number of neutrons but same number of protons such as 168 O and
17 16 17
8 O . In this case 8 O and 8 O are called isotopes of oxygen.

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2 Binding Energy
A bound system is formed when an attractive force binds two or more
particles together. Examples are the solar system and an atom which are
bound by gravitational and electromagnetic forces respectively. In the case
of a nucleus, the nucleons are bound by the nuclear strong force which is
much stronger than the previous two forces. However it is extremely short-
range and decreases to zero within about 3 fm or 3  10 m.
-15

To separate two or more bound particles, work needs to be done to

overcome the attractive forces. We have already seen that this work
becomes stored as potential energy between 2 masses or between 2
oppositely charged particles. In reverse, if we allow initially separate particles
to form a bound system via an attractive force, the potential energy of the
system will decrease. As energy cannot be destroyed, this decrease of the
system’s energy must appear as some other forms of energy. In the case of
the formation of a bound system of electrons and nucleus (i.e. atom), the
energy is emitted as photons. A system of
As for a nucleus, when initially separate nucleons form a bound system, bodies going
energy is similarly given out as gamma ray photons. The emission of a from unbound to
gamma ray photon has been observed by allowing a nucleus of silicon or bound will give
sulphur to capture a neutron. Thus there is a general pattern of emission of out energy.
energy when a bound system is formed.
In nuclear physics, we define: BE, nuclear
binding energy is
Nuclear binding energy is the work needed the work needed
to separate all the nucleons of a nucleus. to separate all
the nucleons of a
Note that nuclear binding energy is defined as energy(work) put into the nucleus.
system instead of the energy given out by the system.

Mass Def ect & E = mc2

Einstein derived the mass-energy equivalence relation E = mc2 from special
relativity theory. The equation states that mass and energy are basically the
same thing. When initially separate nucleons form a bound system and in
the process emit energy in the form of  photons, the energy loss will
manifest as a loss in mass. In the neutron capture event by a silicon nucleus,
it was verified that the final nucleus had a total mass that is less than the m, mass defect
total mass of the silicon nucleus and neutron when they were separate. is the difference
in mass of a
Mass defect is the difference in mass of a nucleus and the total mass nucleus and the
of its unbound nucleons. total mass of its
unbound
nucleons.
This mass defect is associated with the energy lost as  photons in forming a
bound system. It is also associated with the binding energy:

BE, Binding energy of nucleus = (Mnucleons  Mnucleus)c2 BE = (m)c2

= (mass defect)c2

Units of Energy and Mass - eV and u

The energies and masses dealt with in nuclear physics are very small
Energy of
compared to macroscopic systems hence energies are often given in units of
1 eV
1.6  10-19 J or eV. As for mass, they are given in units of 1.66  10-27 kg or u.
= 1.6  10 J
-19
u is called the unified atomic mass unit.
A carbon12 atom 126C is defined to have a mass of 12 u. A proton has Unified atomic
1.007276 u, a neutron has 1.008664 u and an electron has 0.00054858 u. mass unit,
1u
Carbon12’s mass defect m is thus 0.09564 u and the BE = (m)c2 =
= 1.66  10 kg
-27
(0.09564)(1.66  10 )(3  10 ) = 1.429  10 J or 89.31 MeV.
-27 8 2 -11

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BE Per Nucleon & Stability
Binding energy per nucleon (BEpn) of a nuclide is the average work done per Binding energy
nucleon to separate all the nucleons. It is calculated by dividing a nucleus’ per nucleon
binding energy by the number of nucleons. The importance of BEpn is that it (BEpn) of a
tells us how stable a nucleus is against breaking up. Greater BEpn implies nuclide is the
greater stability. This is not surprising since BE is the work needed to average work
separate the nucleons. Fig. 2.1 is a plot of BEpn against A number(nucleon done per
number). Iron-56 is among those with the highest BEpn (Fig. 2.1) hence it is nucleon to
one of the most stable elements. separate all the
nucleons.
Fe56 Greater BEpn
Most abundant implies greater
element on Earth stability against
breaking up.
Fe56 has one of
the highest BEpn
close to 9 MeV.

Fig. 2.1 From Wikimedia Commons

3 Nuclear Processes
Nuclear processes refer to reactions and radioactive decays. Nuclear Nuclear
reactions involve interaction of at least 2 nuclei or one nucleus and a reactions are not
subatomic particle to produce one or more new nuclei. Radioactive decays spontaneous
involve an unstable nucleus spontaneously emitting an ionising particle such whereas
as an alpha particle, a beta particle or gamma photon. radioactivity is
Nuclear Processes spontaneous.

Nuclear Reactions Radioactive Decay

Fig. 3.1 (non-spontaneous) (Spontaneous)

Conserv ation Laws f or Nuclear Processes

All nuclear processes must obey the conservation laws: Nuclear
1. The law of conservation of energy whereby energy includes mass. processes obey
2. The conservation of mass number A. conservation of
1 mass-energy
3. The conservation of atomic number Z. This is equivalent to law of 2 mass number
conservation of charge. 3 atomic number
Consider the reaction 42 He + 147 N  178 O + 11H
An alpha particle bombards a nitrogen atom in a gas, knocking out a proton
from the nitrogen and merges with it to form an oxygen atom. Notice the
conservation of the A and Z numbers in the reaction. The total measured
mass of the nuclides on the left is less than on the right. This increase is
from the conversion of part of the kinetic energy of the alpha particle.
Not all the kinetic energy on the left can be converted to mass on the right
because of the need to conserve momentum in such a collision and so there
must be some KE on the right.

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Nuclear reactions are not spontaneous because atoms are usually neutral
and they repel one another with their orbital electrons. Even if the nucleus of
one atom managed to come near the nucleus of the other after getting pass
the electrons, the nuclei will repel each other again. Only if they managed to
get really close, then the short range strong nuclear force would have a
chance to attract and allow the nuclei to stick to one another.
To reduce the difficulties mentioned, at least one nucleus is usually stripped
of its electrons and accelerated to high speed. Stripping the electrons from a
large nucleus is very difficult so most of the time a small nucleus of helium or
hydrogen is used to bombard another atom or nucleus. A natural source of
helium nuclei at high speeds ( particles) is from radioactive material.
Therefore, most nuclear reactions carried out by physicists involve a small
nucleus. e.g. 11p + 73 Li  74 Be + 01n

Another way uses neutron bombardment as a neutron with no charge will not
experience any coulomb force. e.g. the formation of radioactive carbon14 in
the atmosphere 01n + 147 Li  146 C + 11p and 01n + 13
27
Al  13
28
Al .

Fusion and Fission

Fission Reaction
Fission refers to the breaking up of a large nucleus into smaller nuclei Fission refers to
accompanied by release of energy. The table below compares fission and the breaking up
radioactive decay: of a large
nucleus into
Fission Radioactive Decay smaller nuclei
1 Not spontaneous 1 Spontaneous accompanied by
2 Products are small particles. release of
2 Products include significantly
energy.
larger nuclei. Largest is  particle or 42 He .
3 Releases a larger amount of 3 Releases a smaller amount of
energy (200 Mev) energy (1 keV to 10 MeV)

Fig. 2.1 shows that for mass number A bigger than 56, as A increases BEpn
decreases and hence stability decreases. Thus fission only happens to
bigger nuclei. An example of fission involves a fairly stable Uranium235
capturing a neutron to become highly unstable Uranium236 which then
undergoes fission:
Fission results in
energy E1 + 235
U + n 
1 236
U  98
Zr + 136
Te + 2 01n + energy E2
92 0 92 40 52
greater total BE
and therefore a
Total BE < Total BE net output of
Total mass defect < Total mass defect energy in the
Total mass m1 > Total mass m2 form of photons
Energy released, E2  E1 = (m1  m2)c
2
and KE of
nuclear particles.
Fig 2.1 shows that both Zr and Te have BEpn greater than for U. The
neutrons have no BE as they are unbound. Therefore total BE on the right is
greater than on the left and thus the final mass defect is greater than before.
Greater mass defect implies greater energy given out in the formation of a
nucleus, so there is an overall release of energy in the above reaction.
Even though the loss of mass is about 0.1% in a single fission reaction, the
power generated from 1 g of uranium a day is about 1 MW which can meet
the needs of about 1000 homes.
The total energy released in fission is about 89% in the form of KE of the
broken up fragments. The unstable daughter nuclei will undergo radioactive
decays and release the rest of the energy in the form of KE of particles and
gamma rays. The KE of the nuclei, particles and photons can be absorbed
by a medium like water, eventually becoming heat. Steam produced can
then be used to drive a turbine to produce electricity.

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 Fusion Reaction
Fusion refers to the merging of nuclei to form a new larger nucleus by high Fusion refers to
speed collision. Fusion is not spontaneous. The nuclei to be fused need to the merging of
be accelerated. This is achieved with high temperatures in stars. Fusion of nuclei to form a
nuclei smaller than iron generally gives out energy while fusion of nuclei new larger
bigger than iron absorbs energy. Again whether energy is released or nucleus by high
absorbed can be associated with whether total BE is increased or decreased. speed collision.
energy E1 + 2
H +
1
3
1H  4
2 He + 1
n + energy E2
0 Fusion of nuclei
smaller than Fe
Total BE < Total BE results in greater
Total mass defect < Total mass defect total BE and
Total mass m1 > Total mass m2 hence a net
Energy released, E2  E1 = (m1  m2)c
2 output of energy
as photons or
This fusion example releases about 17.6 MeV of KE due to the greater final KE of nuclear
total BE. Though the energy per reaction is far lower than for fission, the particles.
advantage of fusion is that the products are non-radioactive and harmless.

BE, Mass Def ect and Stability

Nature has a tendency to evolve from a state of higher total energy to a state
of lower total energy and hence greater stability. In the nuclear reactions we Nature has a
have seen, the greater the mass of a system (single body or collection of tendency to
bodies), the greater the amount of energy it possesses. Therefore, if a evolve from a
system evolves from a state of lower total BE (S1 in Fig. 3.1) to a state of state of higher
higher total BE (S2) like the above fission and fusion examples, the total total energy to a
mass of the system will decrease i.e. total mass defect will increase. These state of lower
examples are reactions which proceed according to the natural tendency total energy.
hence they are usually not as difficult as those that proceed against natural
Thus nuclear
tendency. A reaction that proceeds from S2 to S1 is against the natural
processes tend
tendency and it requires a net input of energy whereas S1 to S2 has net
to result in nuclei
output of energy.
which have
Energy greater stability
or greater BEpn.
0
Lower
Lower total
mass E1
BE Higher
defect
E2 total
Higher total BE
 E1 Higher
energy/mass
S1 mass
defect

Lower total
 E2
energy/mass
Fig. 3.2 S2
The S1 state is fairly stable when undisturbed but a little energy input can
allow it to overcome the small potential barrier so that it can proceed to state
S2. Radioactive alpha decay is another example of progression from S1 to
S2 but without addition of external energy because it happens by quantum Radioactivity is a
tunnelling. process in which
an unstable
4 Radioactivity nucleus
spontaneously
Radioactivity or radioactive decay is a process in which an unstable nucleus emits an ionising
spontaneously emits an ionising particle such as an alpha particle, a beta particle such as
particle or gamma photon. ‘Radioactive particles’ is sometimes used to refer an alpha particle,
to the radioactive nuclides and sometimes used to refer to their emitted a beta particle or
ionising particles, hence we will avoid using the term. gamma photon.

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There are many modes of radioactive decay, the three common ones are:

 decay
A
Z X  A-4
Z-2Y + 4
2 He where 42 He is the  particle 3 common
modes of decay
and their
 decay
processes are
A
Z X  A
Y +
Z+1
0
-1 e where -10 e is the  particle or electron shown on the left.

Inside the nucleus: 01n  11p + 0

-1 e + v where v is a neutrino

 decay
A
Z X  A
Z X +  where  is a gamma photon

Nucleus undergoes transition from a higher excited level to a lower level

Properties of   
Mass 4u u/1840 no mass
Charge +2e -e no charge
Speed  0.1c 0.3c  0.9c c
Energy 3  7 MeV 1 keV  10 MeV 0.1  10 MeV
Ionising power Very strong Weak Very weak
Range in air few cm few metres very far
,  &  are
few cm of air, called ionising
few mm of
Stopped by paper,  10 cm of lead particles.
aluminium
human skin
Greater ionising
The greater the ionising power, the shorter the range because when a power
particle causes more ionisation it loses more energy and stops earlier. corresponds to
shorter range.

uniform normal
magnetic field In a uniform B
field:
 &  curve in
Radioactive  opposite
source directions and
radius of
curvature is
bigger for . 
photon is
Fig. 4.1  unaffected.

For charged particles moving perpendicularly to a magnetic field (Fig.4.1),

the magnetic force Bqv provides the centripetal force:
mv 2
Bqv 
r
mv
r 
Bq
Comparing  particle and  particle:
q = 2q v  (0.1 to 0.3)v m  7000m
These ratios will give r > 100r as shown in Fig. 4.1 - mass of  is dominant
factor in determining r.

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Biological Effects of Radiation
Here ‘radiation’ refers to those from radioactivity. Living cells rely on Ionisation
chemical reactions of many kinds of molecules to maintain cell activities like caused by
production of proteins, enzymes, delivery etc. The ionisation caused by particles from
particles from radioactive decay can break bonds and damage molecules so radioactive
that cell functions are disrupted. When molecular or cell damage is extensive decay can break
due to high dose of radiation, the body cannot repair all the damage so cell bonds and
death, tissue or organ failures and mutation result. The more immediate damage
symptoms of excessive radiation include burns, fatigue, vomiting, nausea molecules so
and lowered blood count. Longer term diseases include cancer and cataract. that cell
functions are
External  particles are able to penetrate to the deepest layer of human skin disrupted.
causing skin damage.  particles cannot penetrate human skin and so it is
quite harmless when outside the body. When radioactive atoms are ingested
or inhaled they can spread to all parts of the body. Any  or  particles
emitted will then be very damaging, especially .
 rays can easily pass through organic matter. It causes less biological
damage compared to  &  particles of the same energy as it is least
ionising. However prolonged exposure increases probability of cell damage
and it is most difficult to shield from  rays due to its high penetrating power.

Decays are Random and Spontaneous

A random decay
A random decay is one where it is not possible to predict exactly is one where it is
when it will happen. not possible to
predict exactly
when it will
Half-life of a nuclide is the average time happen.
for half of the radioactive nuclei to decay.
Half-life of a
Given 10 samples of the same number of identical nuclei, not all the samples nuclide is the
will take exactly the same time for half the number of nuclei to decay. Hence average time for
the word average is important because radioactive decays are random. half of the
radioactive
If we start with mass m of a radioactive substance, after one half-life, it does
nuclei to decay.
not mean that the mass of the remaining substance will be m/2. In fact, the
remaining mass will most likely be very close to m. This is because a
decaying atom loses mass  mass of  or  particle. Even the more massive
 particle is just 4u which is usually a small fraction of the mass of an atom. In n half-life,
However, we can always say that the mass of the radioactive substance is fraction of
halved after one half-life since we are not including the decayed atoms. radioactive
n
nuclei remaining
 1 n
In n half-life, fraction of radioactive nuclei remaining =    1
2 =   where n
2
where n can be non-integer
can be non-
integer
Nuclei Reality: data points
number will not form a
Theoretically the
N number is halved perfectly smooth curve
every half-life due to randomness

½N

¼N
⅛N

0 time
Fig. 4.2
t1/2 2t1/2 3t1/2 4t1/2

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Activity & Count Rate
Activity
Activity is the
If an initial Ni radioactive nuclei decreased to Nf after a small time interval t, rate of decay.
the number of decays n = Ni  Nf = N (N by definition is Nf  Ni). N/t
dN
would then be a measure of how fast the nuclei are decaying or the rate of A
decay which we call activity. dt
where N is the
dN number of
The rate of decay, activity A   where N is the number of radioactive
dt
nuclei and A is
radioactive nuclei and A is measured in Bq (becquerel) or s-1. measured in Bq
-1
(becquerel) or s .
If N is larger, we would expect A to be correspondingly larger i.e. we expect

A = N ----- (Eq. 4.1) A = N

where  is a constant of proportionality.

Hence, as N decreases with time, A will decrease with time proportionally.

dN
Combining A   and A = N
dt
dN
 N   and doing an integration will produce the relation
dt

 N  N0 e   t ----- (Eq. 4.2) N  N0 e   t

which is the equation for the curve in Fig. 4.2.

N0 is the initial number of radioactive nuclei.
Since A = N, Eq. 4.2

 A  A0 e  t ----- (Eq. 4.3) A  A0 e  t

Since N is also proportional to the mass m of the radioactive substance,

 m  m0 e  t ----- (Eq. 4.4) m  m0 e  t

Count Rate
Count rate is the number of ionising particles detected by a detector per unit Count rate is the
time. Most detectors do not pick up all the emitted particles so count rate is number of
usually not the same as activity. However, count rate is expected to be ionising particles
proportional to the activity. detected by a
detector per unit
A common detector of
ionising particles is the time. C  A.
sensor 00045 Ya
Geiger-Muller Counter.
Xa bc Za
tube bc bc
on/off
In Fig. 4.3, radiation is Assume pick up
assumed to be uniform area of a GM
counter 2
over spherical area 4r . tube is a at
area a For sensor area a, If the distance r from
r count rate is C, then the source, activity
spherical activity is given by 4 r 2
area 4r2 Fig. 4.3 4 r 2 A C
A C a
a where C is the
There are many naturally occurring radioactive materials and cosmic count rate
sources producing ionising particles in our environment. Hence the corrected for
background count Cb should be deducted from C to get the true count rate background
(C  Cb). radiation.

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Decay Constant and Half -life
Decay Constant 
In A = N, the constant  is actually known as decay constant. A = n/t
where n is the number of ionising particles emitted in time t. Combining Decay constant
the 2 equations give n/t = N or  = (n/N)/t = fraction of radioactive  of a nuclide is
nuclei which decay per unit time = probability of decay per unit time.  the fraction of
radioactive
Decay constant  of a nuclide is nuclei which
the fraction of radioactive nuclei which decay per unit time decay per unit
OR time.
n A
the probability of decay per unit time.    OR
N t N
 the probability
Decay constant is a property or characteristic of a particular radioactive of decay per unit
time.
nuclide. If  were higher, it means a higher probability of decay per unit time
and so activity would be higher.
Half lif e
Every half-life t1/2, number of radioactive nuclei drops by half. Using Eq. 4.2
N  N0 exp(  t )
N0
 N0 exp(  t1/ 2 )
2 Half-life is
 1 related to decay
ln     t1/ 2
2 constant by
 ln 2   t1/ 2 
ln2
t1/ 2
ln 2

t1/ 2 Both  and t1/2
are properties of
Half-life, just like decay constant, is a property of a particular radioactive a particular
nuclide. A shorter t1/2 means faster decay and so a higher activity. radioactive
nuclide.

Uses of Radioactivity - Dating

Radiometric dating is the determination of the age of rocks, bones or wood Radiometric
by making use of A  A0 e  t or m  m0 e  t . dating is the
determination of
Carbon14 Dating the age of rocks,
Carbon14 undergoes beta decay 146 C  147 N + -10 e with a half-life of bones or wood
14 by making use of
5730 yrs. The amount of C in the atmosphere as a fraction of all carbon
A  A0 e  t or
isotopes is almost constant at 1/1012. 14C is constantly created in the upper
atmosphere by cosmic rays and they are constantly absorbed by plants m  m0 e  t .
through photosynthesis and they end up in animals through the food they eat.
14
As long as the plants and animals are alive, the fraction of C in them will be
almost constant.
Consider the following data for finding the age of the archaeological wood:
Sample Count Rate
1 g of living wood 80 per min
1 g of archaeological wood 35 per min
Background count 20 per min
Assuming constant fraction of 14C isotopes in the atmosphere, 1 g of living
-1
wood now and in the past would always give the same count rate of 80 min .
This count rate starts to drop the moment the wood is dead. Thus using C =
C0 exp(t)  (35  20) = (80  20)exp((ln2)t/5730)  t  11 500 yrs.
Alternatively: fraction of undecayed C = (½)  15/60 = (½)  n = 2t1/2.
14 n n

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Potassium40 Dating
This method is commonly used to find out the age of rocks or when they
40 40
were formed by solidification of molten material. K decays to form Ar or
40 40
Ca. When molten, Ar escapes but once solidified, it gets trapped inside
the rock. A fixed fraction of the decays is 40K  40Ar. Calcium is very
common in rocks, making it difficult to tell how much of it is from K  Ca.
40 40

In contrast, Argon can only get into rocks from the atmosphere or by decay.
Hence by using the ratio 40Ar/40K inside the rock, scientist can deduce how
long it was since the rock solidified and started trapping the Ar atoms in it.
The number of 40Ar and 40K atoms in a sample are determined by absorption
spectroscopy and mass spectroscopy respectively.
Consider the following processed data after some measurements:
40
Current number of K atoms that have yet to decay
40 N
to Ar
40
Number of Ar atoms in the sample 3N
Half-life of 40K 1.25 × 109 yrs
From the data, we can deduce that the starting number of 40K must be 4N. It
takes 2 half-lives to reach the present number of N. Hence the age of the
sample is 2.5 × 109 yrs.
Many other radioactive decay processes can be used for dating. Radiometric
dating allows scientists to estimate the age things like the solar system,
Earth, ancient papyrus, cloths etc.

Other Uses of Radioactivity

Gamma rays can be used for cancer treatment because cancer cells are
killed more easily than normal cells. Gamma rays from a small portable
source are very useful to photograph cracks in metal structures similar to
how X-rays are used. They can also be used to sterilise food thus extend
shelf-life by killing bacteria.
Radioactive isotopes can be used as tracers. For example, radioactive
nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen etc can be used to synthesise organic molecules
that can be absorbed into the human body. The path taken by these
molecules can be revealed by identifying where radiation is coming from.

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