Nuclear Reactions
The process of splitting a heavy atomic nucleus into two or more lighter nuclei, releasing a large amount of energy in the process.
What is a nuclear fission?
The use of nuclear reactions to generate heat, which is then used to generate electricity.
What is nuclear power?
A drug that contains a radioactive substance, used in nuclear medicine for diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
What is a radiopharmaceutical?
What is the m in E=mc2
The mass defect. Mass used to create the strong nuclear force.
The amount of time it takes for half of a radioactive sample to decay, and the same quantity divided by natural logarithm of 2.
Half-lifetime
The process in which two atomic nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus.
What is fusion?
A device that uses nuclear reactions to generate heat, which is then used to generate electricity or to produce isotopes for medical or industrial use.
What is a nuclear reactor?
A medical imaging technique that uses beta+ decaying isotopes to visualize metabolic processes in the body.
What is a PET scan?
What is the main source of energy in stars?
What is true about the luminosity and temperature of white dwarfs and red giants?
Luminosity is larger for red giants, but temperature is larger for white dwarfs
A measure of the probability that a nucleus will undergo a specific nuclear reaction when bombarded by a particle or photon.
What is a cross section?
A device used in a nuclear reactor to absorb neutrons and thus regulate the rate of the nuclear reaction.
What is a control rod?
The use of high-energy radiation to kill cancer cells and shrink tumors, often used in combination with other cancer treatments.
What is radiation therapy?
In astrophysics, scientists often use non-SI units to denote the enormous distances that arise in astronomy. Which of the following is not one of these units?
A moon is 2 light years away. How long will it take to send a message and then hear back from them?
4 years.
A technique that uses neutron irradiation to activate elements in a sample, which can then be detected and quantified to determine the sample's composition.
What is neutron activation analysis?
The radioactive byproducts of nuclear power generation and other nuclear applications, which are hazardous to human health and the environment and must be disposed of carefully.
What is nuclear waste?
A type of particle accelerator used to produce isotopes for medical and industrial use, as well as for scientific research.
What is a cyclotron?
Which of the following provides evidence for the particle nature of light?
It takes 72 seconds for 7/8ths of a pure sample of a radioactive nuclide to decay. What is the half-life of the nuclide?
24s
This is the moment when a star begins to die due to no longer performing enough fusion reactions
What is the moment when a star reaches 56Fe for fusion?
A severe nuclear reactor accident that results in the melting of the reactor's core and the release of radioactive material into the environment.
What is a nuclear meltdown?
A type of cancer therapy in which a radioactive source is implanted directly into the body, often used to treat prostate, cervical, and breast cancers.
What is brachytherapy?
As opposed to alpha-particles, when beta particles are emitted their energy spectrum is continuous. The existence of what particle was hypothesized based on this continuous energy spectrum?
Neutrino
Process that results in the emission of a Helium-4 nucleus which is the energy released after the shutdown of a nuclear reactor.
What is alpha decay heat?