Professional Documents
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5 Atomic Physics
1. Radioactivity
2. The nuclear atom
The changing count rate for one of these 9. Which of the equations shows a nuclear
radioactive nuclides is shown in the graph. fission reaction ?
20. Which particle is positively charged ? 25. When dealing with radioactive substances
A. alpha-particle there are possible dangers.
B. beta-particle Which statement is correct ?
C. electron A. beta-particles can pass through skin and
D. neutron damage body cells
B. gamma-radiation is more dangerous than
21. Atoms P and Q are isotopes. alpha or beta because it has longer half-
How does the composition of neutral atom P life
compare with neutral atom Q ? C. materials that emit only alpha-particles
must be kept in thick lead containers
D. radioactive materials are safe to handle
after two half-lives
242
29. A nuclide of the element plutonium is 94 Pu.
What is the number of neutrons in its nucleus
?
A. 94 C. 242
B. 148 D. 336
Which nuclei are isotopes of the same
element ? 30. Which statement defines isotopes ?
A. P and Q only A. two(or more) nuclides which have the
B. P and R only same number of protons but different
C. Q and R only number of electrons
D. P,Q and R
B. two(or more) nuclides which have the D. two(or more) nuclides which have the
same number of neutrons but different same number of protons but different
number of electrons number of neutrons
C. two(or more) nuclides which have the
same number of neutrons but different
number of protons
31. The diagram shows the apparatus used in an experiment in which barriers of various materials are
placed in turn between different radioactive sources and a detector.
The table shows the count rates recorded by the detector for four sources.
Which source emits alpha-particles only ?
238
35. The uranium nucleus 92 U emits an alpha-
32. A nucleus of sodium, Na has 11 protons and
12 neutrons. particle to become thorium, which then emits
Which symbol represents this nucleus ? a beta-particle to become protactinium.
11 12
A. 12 Na B. 11 Na
23 23
C. 11 Na D. 12 Na
39
45. How many nucleons are in a nucleus of 19 K
?
A. 19 C. 39
B. 20 D. 58
When a piece of paper is used as the 46. Which type of radiation has the greatest
absorber, the count rate drops to the ionizing effect ?
background count rate. A. - particle
What radiation is the source emitting ? B. - particle
A. alpha only
C. -rays
B. beta only
C. gamma only D. all have the same ionizing effect
D. alpha, beta and gamma
47. A powder contains 400 mg of a radioactive
22 material that emits - particles.
40. 10 Ne represents an atom of neon.
The half-life of the material is 5 days.
How many neutrons does it have ? What mass of that material remains after 10
A. 10 C. 22 days ?
B. 12 D. 32 A. 0 mg C. 100 mg
B. 40 mg D. 200 mg
41. Which type of radiation can be stopped by a
sheet of paper ? 48. In the symbol below, A is the nucleon number
A. - particles and Z is the proton number.
B. -particles
C. -rays
D. X-rays What is represented by the symbol ?
A. an electron
42. The half-life of a radioactive substance is 5 B. a neutron
hours. A sample is tested and found to C. a nuclide
contain 0.48 g of the substance. D. an X-ray
How much of the substance was present in
the sample 20 hours before the sample was 49. The diagram shows five atoms in a
tested ? radioactive substance. The atoms each give
A. 0.03 g C. 1.92 g out an -particle.
B. 0.12 g D. 7.68 g
Atom 1 is the first to give out a particle. Atom How much of the substance was present in
3 is the second to give out a particle. the sample 20 hours before the sample was
Which atom will give out the next particle ? tested ?
A. atom 2 A. 0.03 g C. 1.92 g
B. atom 4 B. 0.12 g D. 7.68 g
C. atom 5
D. impossible to tell 54. The data below relates to the nucleus of a
particular neutral atom of nitrogen.
50. A Geiger counter detects radiation from Proton number Z=7
radioactive sources. Neutron number A = 17
A radioactive source is inside a thick Which row represents the correct number of
aluminium container as shown. neutrons and electrons in this atom ?