Syllabus Points — Nuclear Physics

23.1 Mass defect and nuclear binding energy

1. understand the equivalence between energy and mass as represented by $E = mc^2$ and recall and use this equation
2. represent simple nuclear reactions by nuclear equations of the form ${}^{14}_{7}\text{N} + {}^{4}_{2}\text{He} \rightarrow {}^{17}_{8}\text{O} + {}^{1}_{1}\text{H}$
3. define and use the terms mass defect and binding energy
4. sketch the variation of binding energy per nucleon with nucleon number
5. explain what is meant by nuclear fusion and nuclear fission
6. explain the relevance of binding energy per nucleon to nuclear reactions, including nuclear fusion and nuclear fission
7. calculate the energy released in nuclear reactions using $E = c^2 \Delta m$

23.2 Radioactive decay

1. understand that fluctuations in count rate provide evidence for the random nature of radioactive decay
2. understand that radioactive decay is both spontaneous and random
3. define activity and decay constant, and recall and use $A = \lambda N$
4. define half-life
5. use $\lambda = 0.693 / t_{1/2}$
6. understand the exponential nature of radioactive decay, and sketch and use the relationship $x = x_0 e^{-\lambda t}$, where $x$ could represent activity, number of undecayed nuclei or received count rate