Sir Ernest Rutherford

Sir Ernest Rutherford was born in Nelson, New Zealand in 1871. He went to England in 1895 but also
worked in Montreal, Canada.

He became Longworth Professor of Physics at Manchester University England in 1907.

In 1910, Rutherford’s investigations into scattering of alpha particles led him to propose that atoms
have a very small central core or nucleus.

When he died in 1937, he had been awarded the Noble Prize in Chemistry (1908), had been President of
the Royal Society (1925- 1930) and, as well as receiving numerous prizes, had written several books.

J.J. Thomson

Joseph John Thomson was born in Manchester, England in 1856. He studied at Owen’s College
Manchester and at Cambridge.

In 1897 he announced his discovery of the electron. In 1904 he gave a lecture at Yale University in which
he made important new suggestions about the structure of the atom.

The ‘plum pudding’ model

This discovery of cathode rays, positive rays and radioactivity around the beginning of the century began
to cause doubt about the atom as an indivisible particles. They provided evidence that particle smaller
than atoms existed and that these had electric charges. This led both Kelvin and J.J. Thomson
independently to the idea that perhaps atoms were solid balls of positively charged matter in which
negative electrons were dotted about like currants in a pudding. There needed to be enough negative
electrons to make the whole pudding electrically neutral.

Rutherford’s nuclear model

Scattered alpha particles provide a clue

In 1906, Rutherford first noticed that alpha particles (positively charged particles emitted by some
radioactive materials such as radium) passed straight through a thin sheet of mica. There appeared to be
no holes made in the mica and it seemed solid enough. A few alpha particles were deflected or scattered
from the straight through direction and this interested Rutherford. How could these tiny ‘bullets’ of
matter pass straight through a solid substance without any apparent effect most of the time, and just
occasionally get deflected off course?

These first results gave Rutherford the idea that atoms might have a very small central core or nucleus
with a strong electric charge which would deflect the alpha particles, but only when they came very near
to it. This nucleus would be surrounded by electricity of the opposite charge which filled up the rest of
the atom, but through which the alpha particles could pass as if it were empty space. At this point
Rutherford did not know that the charge of the nucleus was positive and did not have precise
experiment data to support his new idea.

The experiments of Geiger and Marsden (1909- 11)

When, in 1909, Rutherford became Professor of Physics at Manchester University, he put two of his
assistants to work investigating the scattering of alpha particles by metal foils. They were Hans Geiger
and Ernest Marsden. Rutherford asked them to investigate how the number of alpha particles scattered
varied with the angle of deflection. The apparatus they used is shown below.

The source of the alpha particles was radioactive products obtained from radium. In an evacuated metal
box a narrow bean of alpha particles rained down on a thin metal foil. Platinum silver and gold were
used. Alpha particles were detected by a zinc sulphide screen mounted on the end of a microscope. In
the dark, a very small flash of light or scintillation can be seen when an alpha particle give up it kinetic
energy to the atoms in the zinc sulphide.

During their experiments, Geiger and Marsden counted over 100,000 flashes of light while looking down
the microscope. They counted alpha particles deflected by angles in the range 5 o to 150o from the
straight through direction.

Alpha are scattered backwards

Most if the alpha particles passed straight through the metal foils. The number deflected fell off quickly
as the angle of deflection increased. A very small fraction, about 1 in 8000 (for platinum), were
deflection by angles greater than 90o, i.e. they bounced back towards the source. This result was so
surprising that Rutherford commented.

Niels Bohr

Niels Bohr was born in 1885 in Copenhagen, Denmark Bohr studied with Ernest Rutherford at
Manchester in England.

In 1913 Bohr published a theory of the structure of the atom which was a development of Rutherford’s
nuclear model. Bohr imagined the negative electrons in orbit around the positive nucleus. He also
suggested that the electrons existed in certain special orbits and could jump between these while
emitting or absorbing radiation. This theory was later developed into Quantum Mechanics by other
scientists.

Chadwick finds the neutron

In 1920, Rutherford predicted the existence of a neutral particle in the nucleus of the atom. He
proposed the name neutron for this new neutral particle, and suggested that it should have a mass very
slightly greater than that of the proton.

In 1932, James Chadwick showed that radiation emitted from an experiment in which alpha particles
were fire at beryllium must be particles fitting Rutherford’s description. The neutron is now known to
exist as a basic constituent of matter and the nuclei of all atoms, except hydrogen, contain neutrons as
well as positive protons.

Atomic Structure

The atomic number or proton number Z of an element is the number of protons in the nucleus of every
atom of that element.

A neutral atom has exactly the same number of electrons as protons.

The number of neutrons in the nucleus of an atom is known as the neutron number N

The number of nucleons in the nucleus of an atom is called its nucleon number or mass number A

Nucleon number or mass number = proton number or atomic number + neutron number

A = Z+ N

Sub atomic particles

Particles Electron Proton Neutron

Symbol e p n
Charge -e +e neutral
Location In orbital or shells Nucleons, i.e. particles found in the nucleus

Isotopes and Nuclides

Isotopes are atoms with the same proton number Z but different nucleon number A.

The nuclide Symbol

A
X
Z

X is the symbol for the element

A= the nucleon number

Z= the proton number

N, the number of neutrons is given by

N= A –Z

Radio activity
Around the year 1900 some substances were discovered that gave out three different, and then
unknown, types of ‘radiation’. They were given the names alpha particles, beta particles and gamma
rays. Substances that give out these radiations are known as radioactive substances.

We now know that the three radiations are emitted from the nucleus of certain atoms.

Nature of radioactive emissions

α particles are helium nuclei and are composed of two neutrons and two protons. They are positively
4
charged symbol He.
2

0
β particles are high- speed electrons and are negatively- charged; symbol e.
−1

ϒ-rays are high- energy, high- frequency electromagnetic radiation with no charge; symbol ϒ.

Properties of α, β and ϒ- rays

As they are positively – charged, α- particles are attracted towards negative charge in an electric field. Β-
particles experience a force in the opposite direction. However, β- particles are deviated more than α-
particles as the mass of the β- particles is much less.

α-particles and β- particles are also deflected in opposite directions by magnetic fields. We predict the
directions using the left hand rule.

For the β-particles (electrons) the current is in the opposite direction to their motion.

For the positively- charged α- particles the current is in the same direction as their motion. With the
magnetic field into the paper, the deflections are as shown

As ϒ- rays are uncharged they are not deflected by either or magnetic fields.

Detection of radioactivity

The Geiger- Mϋller tube (G –M tube) is used to detect the three types of radioactivity. It is a tube, filled
mainly with argon gas, which a wire along the centre at high voltage (400 V). At one end is a thin mica
window.

When α, β, ϒ- rays enter the tube they cause ionisation of the gas. This creates a burst of current which
is registered by a counter. The mica is thin to allow the α- particles to penetrate.

Penetration of α, β and ϒ – rays

α-particles
We place a G-M tube various distance (1cm to 10 cm) away from an α- particles source. A large number
of α- particles may be detected after passing through 1cm of air. However, the number falls almost to
zero after 5 or 6 cm of air. A single sheet of paper will also stop the α – particles completely.

β-particles

With a β-particles source we find that a large number of β- particles travel 30 or 40m in air before being
stopped. We use aluminium sheets several millimetres thick to stop the β-particles.

ϒ-rays

ϒ-rays are not absorbed by air and only to a small extent by aluminium ϒ-rays need several centimetres
of lead, or several tens of centimetres of concrete, to ensure that they are absorbed.

Ionisation and penetration

α-particles do not travel far in air as they cause much ionisation. This is because they have a double
positive charge and move relatively slowly past other atoms. Each ion created slows down the α-
particles by a small amount.

β-particles are moving at high speed, near to the speed of light, and cause less ionisation per centimetre
than α-particles. They are thus able to travel further.

ϒ-rays only cause ionisation if they directly hit an atom and eject an election. The ejected electron then
also causes ionisation.

Ionisation and the cloud chamber

In the diffusion cloud chamber the ionisation caused by the α, β and ϒ-rays creates a visible track.
Alcohol vapour condenses on the ions formed.

The α- particles give bright, straight tracks. The fast β- particles give straight but thin tracks. ϒ-rays
produce a confusion of tracks as the ejected electrons cause ionisation in short, curved tracks.

Nuclear changes in radioactivity

When α and β- particles are emitted the atom changes to another element

In α- particles emission the nucleus losses two protons and two neutrons, we write the emission of an α-
238
particles from the uranium isotope U as follows:
92

238 234 4
U Th + He
92 90 2

Uranium Thorium α-particle

92 protons 90 protons 2- protons

146 neutrons 144 neutrons 2-neutrons

14 0
Carbon 14 C, emits a β- particle ( e). In this case the number of protons rises by one and the
6 −1
number of neutrons decreases by one. It is as if a neutron decays into a proton and an electron. The
electron is emitted as the β-particles.

14 14 0
C N + e
6 7 −1

Carbon Nitrogen β-particles

General radioactive equations

In general α- and β- decay are represented as follows:

α-decay

A 4 A−4
X He + Y
Z 2 Z−2

β-decay

A 0 A
X e + L
Z −1 Z +1

All radioactive decays are a result of instability in the nucleus

Radioactive decay and the half- life

Radioactive decay is a random process. It occurs by chance. We cannot predict which atom will decay or
when any particular atom will decay.

When we place a G-M tube near to an α-particle source the number of α-particles detected in a ten-
second period may be fluctuate as in the table below

α-particle readings

Particles in ten seconds 22 17 19 23 20 20 21

Time/min 0 1 2 3 4 5 6

With a large number of atoms over a longer period of time we find that half of the atoms originally
present decay in a certain time. This time is known as the half-time.
If the half-life is 6 hours and we originally have 12 g of the substance, then we would find that 6g
remains after 6 hours and 3g after 12 hours. You should note that ½ remains after 1 half-life, ¼ remains
after 2 half-lives and 1/8 remains after 3 half- lives. We can plot this as a graph

We actually measure the activity of the sample, not the amount present. The activity falls at the same
rate that the amount remaining goes down. We used 6 hours as an example of a half-life. In fact, half-
lives vary in different radioactive substances from fractions of a second to millions of years.

This rate of radioactive decay is not affected by heating or cooling. It also makes no difference if an atom
is an element or in a compound. Radioactivity is solely the result of instability of the nucleus.

Medical uses of radioactivity

1. ϒ-rays are used to sterilise hospital equipment. They are particularly useful for sealed packets of
equipment, e.g. needles, which then remain sealed until used.
2. Precisely directed ϒ-rays can be used to kill cancer cells in a patient’s body.
3. Radioactive tracers in the blood are used. The radioactive substance is injected and a G-M tube
can be used to follow the movement of the radioactive atoms. Diseased tissue takes up more
radioactive atom than healthy tissue and this can be seen from the G-M tube readings.

Industrial uses of radioactivity

1. Bacteria in food are killed by ϒ-rays. This does not reduce the nutritional value of the food.
2. In conjunction with a photographic film, ϒ-rays can give evidence of defects in joints and
castings. This is similar to X-rays but much more convenient as X –ray machines are quite large.
3. β-particles and ϒ-rays are used to check the thickness of sheets of material during their
manufacture. The amount of radiation passing through the film is monitored. If the reading falls,
the thickness of the material has become too large.
14
4. The radioactive isotope C is used in the dating of fossils.
6

Safety

Radioactivity can cause damage to cells with the long-term possibility of cancer and leukaemia. Genetic
damage can occur and possibly birth defects.
In the school laboratory we take the following precautions

1. We always hold radioactive sources with forceps.

2. We do not point sources towards the body
3. We store sources inside lead containers which are placed in a second container. The containers
are then stored in a secure place.

Nuclear energy

Radioactive decays are examples of nuclear reactions. Many other nuclear reactions take place and in
many of them a great deal of energy is given out. This energy is a result of the destruction of mass
during the reaction. The total mass is less after the reaction.

The Einstein equation relates the energy release, E, with the mass destroyed, m, and the speed of light,
c.

E = mc2

Fission

Fission is the splitting of a large nucleus into roughly equal smaller nuclei. In the process mass is
destroyed and energy released. It is the basis of the atomic bomb. For example:

236 1 153 80 1
U+ n La + Br + 3 n + energy
92 0 57 35 0

Advantages and disadvantages of nuclear energy: nuclear reactors