The Piezoelectric Transducer The piezoelectric effect is defined as: The ability of particular materials to generate a potential difference (p.d.) by transferring mechanical energy to electrical en...
Half-Life Definition Half life is defined as: The time taken for the initial number of nuclei to reduce by half This means when a time equal to the half-life has passed, the activity of the sample ...
Activity & The Decay Constant Since radioactive decay is spontaneous and random, it is useful to consider the average number of nuclei which are expected to decay per unit time This is known as...
The Random Nature of Radioactive Decay Radioactive decay is defined as: The spontaneous disintegration of a nucleus to form a more stable nucleus, resulting in the emission of an alpha, beta or gam...
Calculating Energy Released in Nuclear Reactions The binding energy is equal to the amount of energy released in forming the nucleus, and can be calculated using: E = (Δm)c2 Where: E = Binding ener...
Nuclear Fusion & Fission Nuclear Fusion Fusion is defined as: The fusing together of two small nuclei to produce a larger nucleus Low mass nuclei (such as hydrogen and helium) can undergo fusio...
Mass Defect & Binding Energy Experiments into nuclear structure have found that the total mass of a nucleus is less than the sum of the masses of its constituent nucleons This difference in mas...
Representing Simple Nuclear Reactions Nuclear reactions can be represented by balanced equations of nuclei in the AZX form AZX notation for atomic nuclei The top number A represents the nucleon num...
Energy & Mass Equivalence Einstein showed in his theory of relativity that matter can be considered a form of energy and hence, he proposed: Mass can be converted into energy Energy can be conv...
