Nuclear Physics Ch.29 Exam Prep

Physics, 9e (Giambattista)

Chapter 29 Nuclear Physics

1) What is the symbol for the nuclide with 38 protons and 50 neutrons?

A)

B)

C)

D)

2) How many neutrons are in a 35Cl nucleus?

A) 17

B) 18

C) 16

D) 19

3) What is the symbol for the nuclide with 46 protons and 92 neutrons?

A)

B)

C)

D)

4) How many neutrons are in a 15C nucleus?

A) 7

B) 8

C) 6

D) 9

5) The particles in the nucleus referred to as nucleons are

A) electrons and protons.

B) protons and neutrons.

C) neutrons and electrons.

D) electrons and photons.

6) A nuclide whose "generic" symbol is would have how many protons and neutrons, respectively?

A) 64, 30

B) 30, 64

C) 30, 34

D) 34, 30

7) What is the element X for the nuclide ?

A) Zn

B) Se

C) Gd

D) Ge

8) 16O, 17O, and 18O are ________ of oxygen.

A) isotones

B) isotopes

C) isobars

D) isomers

E) isotherms

9) Isotopes of an element have the same number of ________ but different numbers of _______.

A) neutrons, protons

B) electrons, protons

C) protons, neutrons

D) neutrons, electrons

E) protons, electrons

10) One mole of has a mass of approximately

A) 13 g

B) 27 g

C) 14 g

D) 20 g

E) 40 g

11) How many atoms are in one gram of ?

A) 1.63 × 1025

B) 6.02 × 1022

C) 1.51 × 1023

D) 2.23 × 1025

E) 2.23 × 1022

12) What nuclide has 14 protons and 16 neutrons?

A) 16S

B) 14O

C) 30Si

D) 30S

13) One mole of 40Ar (Z = 18) has about what mass?

A) 18 g

B) 22 g

C) 40 kg

D) 40 g

E) 22 kg

14) One pg (picogram) of 40K has how many nuclei?

A) 6.0 × 1017

B) 6.0 × 1011

C) 1.5 × 1022

D) 3.0 × 1011

E) 1.5 × 1010

15) What is the radius of a nuclide with mass number 190?

A) 190 fm

B) 5.7 fm

C) 6.9 fm

D) 4.8 fm

E) 0.19 fm

16) What is the volume of the nucleus?

A) 6.7 × 10-43 m3

B) 5.2 × 10-42 m3

C) 1.7 × 10-42 m3

D) 1.6 × 10-42 m3

E) 1.2 × 10-12 m3

17) What is the density of the 238U nucleus?

A) 2.3 × 1017 kg/m3

B) 9.6 × 1014 kg/m3

C) 3.2 × 1014 kg/m3

D) 2.38 × 105 kg/m3

E) 1.0 × 103 kg/m3

18) If a nucleus has a volume of 1.0 × 10-42 m3, what is its mass number?

A) 1

B) 25

C) 100

D) 138

E) 174

19) In the reaction n + 12C → α + ?, what is the unknown product nucleus?

A) 13C

B) 9C

C) 10B

D) 9B

E) 9Be

20) In the reaction 4He + 9Be → n + 12C, how much energy is released or absorbed? The masses of the neutral atoms are as follows: the mas of 4He is 4.0026033 u, the mass of 9Be is 9.0121831 u, the mass of n is 1.0086649 u, and the mass of 12C is 12.0000000 u.

A) 4.21 MeV absorbed

B) 4.21 MeV released

C) 5.70 MeV absorbed

D) 5.70 MeV released

E) 6.34 MeV released

21) Which force is responsible for holding the protons and neutrons together in the nucleus?

A) strong

B) gravity

C) weak

D) coulomb

E) electromagnetic

F) centrifugal

22) What is the binding energy of 12C? The mass of an atom of 12C is 12 u (exactly), the mass of an atom of 1H is 1.007825 u, and the mass of a neutron is 1.0086649 u.

A) 137 MeV

B) 104 MeV

C) 92.2 MeV

D) 46.1 MeV

E) 7.68 MeV

23) What is the binding energy per nucleon for 12C?

A) 137 MeV

B) 104 MeV

C) 92.2 MeV

D) 46.1 MeV

E) 7.68 MeV

24) In the nucleus, what are the maximum number of neutrons in a neutron energy level, and the maximum number of protons in a proton energy level, respectively?

A) 1, 1

B) 1, 2

C) 2, 1

D) 2, 2

E) 2, 8

25) A unstable medium-sized nucleus with an equal number of protons and neutrons (Z = N) is most likely to decay via

A) gamma decay

B) β+ decay

C) β− decay

D) α decay

E) spontaneous fission

26) Manganese-67 is an unstable nuclide. Which type of radioactive decay is it most likely to undergo?

A) gamma decay

B) β+decay

C) β− decay

D) α decay

E) spontaneous fission

27) Of those elements listed below, the binding energy per nucleon reaches a maximum closest to

A) oxygen.

B) iron.

C) gold.

D) tungsten.

E) uranium.

28) What are the approximate binding energies per nucleon (in MeV) around A = 60 and A = 240, respectively?

A) 9.4, 7.0

B) 7.6, 8.7

C) 7.0, 9.4

D) 7.0, 8.0

E) 8.7, 7.6

29) The majority of the average yearly radiation exposure from nonmedical sources, for people living in the United States, comes from

A) eating bananas.

B) cosmic rays.

C) naturally occurring uranium.

D) radon gas.

E) smoke detectors.

30) What is the binding energy of an alpha particle?

A) 2.20 MeV

B) 50.0 MeV

C) 28.3 MeV

D) 21.2 MeV

31) What is the mass defect of an alpha particle?

A) 0.03038 u

B) 0.30377 u

C) 0.03147 u

D) 0.02928 u

32) Who discovered radioactivity?

A) Niels Bohr

B) Marie Curie

C) Albert Einstein

D) Henri Becquerel

E) Richard Feynman

33) The three most common types of radiation emitted by radioactive nuclei were originally named alpha, beta, and gamma rays, after the first letters of the Greek alphabet. In order of increasing ability to penetrate matter, these are

A) alpha, beta, gamma.

B) beta, gamma, alpha.

C) gamma, alpha, beta.

D) alpha, gamma, beta.

E) gamma, beta, alpha.

34) Of the following quantities, which (if any) is not conserved in radioactive decay?

A) energy

B) momentum

C) charge

D) angular momentum

E) All these quantities are conserved.

35) The symbol is used to represent the

A) proton

B) positron

C) antiproton

D) neutrino

E) electron

36) Radium-226 decays by alpha decay. What are A and Z for the daughter nuclide?

A) 226, 92

B) 222, 92

C) 226, 88

D) 222, 88

E) 222, 86

37) When 241 Am decays by emitting an alpha particle of kinetic energy 5.5 MeV, what is the recoil energy of the daughter nucleus?

A) 5.5 MeV

B) 1.3 MeV

C) 0.88 MeV

D) 0.093 MeV

E) 0.091 MeV

38) The neutrino was proposed by Wolfgang Pauli to overcome the apparent violation of which of the following conservation laws in beta decay?

A) energy

B) momentum

C) energy and momentum

D) charge

E) energy, momentum, and charge

39) In beta-minus decay, which neutrino is emitted?

A) the electron neutrino

B) the electron antineutrino

C) the muon neutrino

D) the muon antineutrino

E) the tau neutrino

40) The isotope A281 decays by beta-minus decay. What is the daughter nucleus?

A) Mg28

B) A271

C) Na24

D) Si28

E) Si27

41) The isotope A261 decays by beta-plus decay. What is the daughter nucleus?

A) 27Al

B) 25Al

C) 26Mg

D) 26Si

E) 26Al

42) Barium-137 emits a gamma ray in the decay from an excited state (137Ba*). What is the resulting daughter nuclide?

A) 137Cs

B) 137Ba

C) 137La

D) 136Ba

E) 136Cs

43) If a nucleus has excited states above the ground state at energies 300 keV, 200 keV, and 80 keV, what gamma rays (in keV) may be expected from a collection of these excited nuclei? The ground-state energy is at 0. Choose the most complete set. 

A) 300, 200, 80

B) 300, 200, 120, 80

C) 100, 120, 80

D) 300, 120, 200, 80, 180

E) 300, 220, 200, 120, 100, 80

44) A nuclear reactor periodically emits radioactive isotopes that travel outward at a speed of 1.0 km/s. If these isotopes have a half-life of 12 ms, what is the average distance they travel before decaying?

A) 12 μm

B) 12 m

C) 17 m

D) 1.0 km

E) 83 km

45) If a nuclide has a half-life of 100 s, what is the corresponding mean lifetime?

A) 100 s

B) 144 s

C) 69 s

D) 50 s

E) 75 s

46) The half-life of 30P is 2.50 minutes. If a sample of 30P has 1.60 × 1010 nuclei present initially, how many remain after 10.0 minutes?

A) 0.800 × 1010

B) 0.400 × 1010

C) 0.200 × 1010

D) 0.100 × 1010

E) 0.050 × 1010

47) The half-life of 30P is 2.50 minutes. If a sample of 30P has 1.60 × 1010 nuclei present, what is its activity?

A) 4.6 × 107 Bq

B) 7.4 × 107 Bq

C) 6.4 × 109 Bq

D) 1.6 × 1010 Bq

E) 1.6 × 109 Bq

48) A sample contains 1.000 × 10−3 g of 40K. The half-life of 40K is 1.250 × 109 years. What is the activity of the sample?

A) 3300 Bq

B) 1250 Bq

C) 382.0 Bq

D) 265.0 Bq

E) 3.000 Bq

49) Carbon-14 has an activity of 0.25 Bq per gram of carbon for living organisms. The half-life of 14C is 5730 years. If a sample of charcoal from an archeological dig yields a 14C activity of 0.15 Bq per gram of carbon, how old is the material?

A) 6.6 × 103 y

B) 5.1 × 103 y

C) 4.2 × 103 y

D) 1.7 × 103 y

E) 1.4 × 103 y

50) The quantum-mechanical process by which an alpha particle makes it through the potential barrier holding it in the nucleus is called

A) leaping.

B) tunneling.

C) transmission.

D) fission.

E) transportation.

51) What is the mass of 25.0 mCi of technetium-99m (Tc99m), which has a half-life of 6.00 h?

A) 4.74 ng

B) 50.7 pg

C) 1.05 ng

D) 3.29 ng

E) 25.0 mg

52) In radiation dosage, the factor that accounts for the impact of the type of radiation on the biological damage caused is the

A) absorbed dose.

B) biologically equivalent dose.

C) disintegration energy.

D) relative biological effectiveness.

E) mass defect.

53) If a 70 kg person received a dose of 3.2 mGy of gamma rays of RBE = 0.80, what is the biologically equivalent dose in rem?

A) 0.012

B) 0.18

C) 0.0026

D) 0.26

E) 18

54) If a 60 kg person received a biologically equivalent dose of 1.7 rem of radiation with an RBE of 1.1, what was the total energy absorbed by the person? 

A) 1.7 J

B) 1.5 J

C) 0.93 J

D) 0.015 J

E) 0.26 J

55) A beam of gamma rays strikes a lead target with a half-value layer of 0.40 cm. What fraction of the photons in the beam will penetrate to a depth of 1.20 cm or more?

A) 0.500

B) 0.400

C) 0.333

D) 0.250

E) 0.125

56) In the fission reaction n + → + ? + 4n, what are the Z and A for the unknown fission product?

A) 37, 90

B) 35, 94

C) 36, 90

D) 37, 91

E) 36, 91

57) The fusion reaction 2H + 3H → 4He + n releases 17.6 MeV of energy. The mass of 2H is 2.01410 u, the mass of 4He is 4.00260 u, and the mass of the neutron is 1.00866 u. What is the mass of 3H?

A) 2.9972 u

B) 3.0161 u

C) 3.0349 u

D) 3.0422 u

E) 2.9998 u

58) The tokamak is a device designed to produce

A) tritium.

B) lithium hydride pellets.

C) carbon cycles.

D) controlled fission.

E) controlled fusion.

59) What is the ratio of radii of the nuclides and ?

A) 1.66

B) 2.44

C) 5.95

D) 1.81

60) It is common to illustrate the density of nuclear matter by discussing the mass of a teaspoon of nuclear material. The volume of a teaspoon is about 5 cm3. Using the relationship r = (1.2 fm) A1/3 together with the mass of a proton, 1.67 × 10−27 kg, estimate the mass of a teaspoon of nuclear material.

A) 3.8 × 1011 kg

B) 9.6 × 1011kg

C) 1.53 × 1012 kg

D) 1.15 × 1012 kg

61) A neutron star has approximately the same density as nuclear material. A typical neutron star has a radius of 8.0 km. Using the relationship r = (1.2 fm) A1/3 together with the mass of a neutron, 1.67 × 10−27kg, estimate the mass of a neutron star.

A) 0.65 × 1030 kg

B) 1.5 × 1030 kg

C) 0.16 × 1030 kg

D) 0.49 × 1030 kg

62) A neutron star has approximately the same density as nuclear material. If a neutron star has the same mass as the Sun, 1.99 × 1030 kg, what would be its radius? Use the relationship r = (1.2 fm) A1/3 together with the mass of a neutron, 1.67 × 10−27kg, to estimate the answer.

A) 12 km

B) 19 km

C) 13 km

D) 9.8 km

63) What is the radius of the nuclide ? 

A) 7.4 fm

B) 5.4 fm

C) 290 fm

D) 1.8 fm

64) The binding energy per nucleon in a nucleus is

A) the same for all nuclei.

B) the greatest for the largest nuclei.

C) the greatest for the smallest nuclei.

D) the greatest for medium-sized nuclei.

65) When a nucleus of a given isotope decays, it

A) cannot produce a daughter with the same mass number.

B) always produces a daughter with a lower mass number.

C) cannot produce a daughter with a lower mass number.

D) cannot produce a daughter with a higher mass number.

E) always produces a daughter with a higher mass number.

66) Compared to the sum of the masses of its constituents, the mass of a nucleus (other than 1H) is

A) the same.

B) greater.

C) less.

D) could be any of the above.

67) For a sample of a given radioactive isotope, the ratio of the number of atoms of the isotope at time t to the number at time t + T1/2 is

A) always 2.

B) dependent on how long it has been since t = 0.

C) Dependent upon what the value of T1/2.

D) always 1/2.

E) might be any number less than 1/2.

68) For a selected atom in a sample of a radioactively decaying isotope, the probability that it will decay during a time interval of a specified length is

A) dependent on how long it has been since t = 0.

B) independent of when the time interval starts relative to the current time.

C) dependent upon how old the atom is.

D) fundamentally unpredictable.

69) Carbon-14 has a half-life of 5730 years. You discover a single carbon-14 nucleus in your laboratory. What is the probability that it will decay in the next 24 hours?

A) 4.9 × 10−7

B) 3.3 × 10−7

C) 4.8 × 10−7

D) It cannot be known unless the age of the nucleus is known.

70) How many neutrons are produced in the following induced fission reaction?

n1 + → r + e + neutrons

A) 2

B) 0

C) 1

D) 3

71) Complete the following induced reaction: + → + ?

A)

B)

C)

D)

72) Which of the following nuclear reactions is forbidden?

A) + → + 2

B) + →

C) + → 2

D) n1 + → n + o + 3 n1

73) The burning of one gallon of gasoline releases about 2 × 108 J. If each nuclear fission reaction in a nuclear power plant releases 173 MeV, what quantity of uranium-235 would produce the same energy as burning a gallon of gasoline?

A) 28 g

B) 0.28 g

C) 2.8 g

D) 0.0028 g

74) If each nuclear fission reaction in a nuclear power plant releases 173 MeV, what quantity of uranium-235 must be consumed each day to keep a 350 MW plant producing at capacity? Assume the power plant is 35% efficient.

A) 5.2 kg

B) 1.8 kg

C) 0.43 kg

D) 1.2 kg

75) Nuclear fuel enrichment is the process by which the concentration of what component of nuclear fuel is increased artificially?

A) Plutonium-239

B) Uranium-235

C) Deuterium

D) Uranium-238

76) A nuclear chain reaction is possible (for the isotopes that can participate in a chain reaction) because when each nucleus fissions, it produces

A) more neutrons than are required to induce fission in one nucleus.

B) more energy than is required to induce fission in one nucleus.

C) daughters that can also be induced to fission to produce more energy.

D) daughters that can fuse together to make more of the same isotope.

77) Fusion normally involves relatively light nuclei because

A) fusion produces heavier nuclei, and the binding energy per nucleon decreases with atomic number for low atomic numbers.

B) they are the most plentiful.

C) they are easier to ionize and thus to cause their nuclei to coalesce.

D) fusion produces heavier nuclei, and the binding energy per nucleon increases with atomic number for low atomic numbers.

78) Stars are powered by nuclear fusion in their cores, which, starting with hydrogen, produce progressively heavier elements. Near the end of a star's lifetime, stellar cores produce iron by fusion. The reason this process doesn't proceed beyond iron is that

A) iron in stellar cores tends to undergo spontaneous fission.

B) iron is the most dense material in solid form.

C) iron nuclei have the greatest binding energy per nucleon.

D) iron is ferromagnetic.

E) iron is heavy.