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Specific Activity
Specific activity (symbol ''a'') is the activity per unit mass of a radionuclide and is a physical property of that radionuclide. It is usually given in units of becquerel per kilogram (Bq/kg), but another commonly used unit of specific activity is the curie per gram (Ci/g). In the context of radioactivity, activity or total activity (symbol ''A'') is a physical quantity defined as the number of radioactive transformations per second that occur in a particular radionuclide. The unit of activity is the ''becquerel'' (symbol Bq), which is defined equivalent to reciprocal seconds (symbol s−1). The older, non-SI unit of activity is the ''curie'' (Ci), which is radioactive decays per second. Another unit of activity is the ''rutherford'', which is defined as radioactive decays per second. The specific activity should not be confused with level of exposure to ionizing radiation and thus the exposure or absorbed dose, which is the quantity important in assessing the effects of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Becquerel
The becquerel (; symbol: Bq) is the unit of radioactivity in the International System of Units (SI). One becquerel is defined as an activity of one per second, on average, for aperiodic activity events referred to a radionuclide. For applications relating to human health this is a small quantity, and SI multiples of the unit are commonly used. The becquerel is named after Henri Becquerel, who shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Pierre and Marie Curie in 1903 for their work in discovering radioactivity. Definition 1 Bq = 1 s−1 A special name was introduced for the reciprocal second (s) to represent radioactivity to avoid potentially dangerous mistakes with prefixes. For example, 1 μs would mean 10 disintegrations per second: , whereas 1 μBq would mean 1 disintegration per 1 million seconds. Other names considered were hertz (Hz), a special name already in use for the reciprocal second (for ''periodic'' events of any kind), and fourier (Fr; after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avogadro Constant
The Avogadro constant, commonly denoted or , is an SI defining constant with an exact value of when expressed in reciprocal moles. It defines the ratio of the number of constituent particles to the amount of substance in a sample, where the particles in question are any designated elementary entity, such as molecules, atoms, ions, ion pairs. The numerical value of this constant is known as the Avogadro number, commonly denoted . The Avogadro ''number'' is an exact number equal to the number of constituent particles in one mole of any substance (by definition of the mole), historically derived from the experimental determination of the number of atoms in 12 grams of carbon-12 (12C) before the 2019 revision of the SI. Both the constant and the number are named after the Italian physicist and chemist Amedeo Avogadro. The Avogadro constant is used as a proportionality factor in relating the ''amount of substance'' , in a sample of a substance , to the corresponding n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uranium-235
Uranium-235 ( or U-235) is an isotope of uranium making up about 0.72% of natural uranium. Unlike the predominant isotope uranium-238, it is fissile, i.e., it can sustain a nuclear chain reaction. It is the only fissile isotope that exists in nature as a primordial nuclide. Uranium-235 has a half-life of 703.8 million years. It was discovered in 1935 by Arthur Jeffrey Dempster. Its fission cross section for slow thermal neutrons is about Barn (unit), barns. For fast neutrons it is on the order of 1 barn. Most neutron absorptions induce fission, though a minority (about 15%) result in the formation of uranium-236. Fission properties The fission of one atom of uranium-235 releases () inside the reactor. That corresponds to 19.54 TJ/mole (unit), mol, or 83.14 TJ/kg. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uranium-238
Uranium-238 ( or U-238) is the most common isotope of uranium found in nature, with a relative abundance of 99%. Unlike uranium-235, it is non-fissile, which means it cannot sustain a chain reaction in a thermal-neutron reactor. However, it is fissionable by fast neutrons, and is ''fertile'', meaning it can be transmuted to fissile plutonium-239. 238U cannot support a chain reaction because inelastic scattering reduces neutron energy below the range where fast fission of one or more next-generation nuclei is probable. Doppler broadening of 238U's neutron absorption resonances, increasing absorption as fuel temperature increases, is also an essential negative feedback mechanism for reactor control. Around 99.284% of natural uranium's mass is uranium-238, which has a half-life of 1.41 seconds (4.468 years, or 4.468 billion years). Due to its natural abundance and half-life relative to other radioactive elements, 238U produces ~40% of the radioactive heat produced wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thorium-232
Thorium-232 () is the main naturally occurring isotope of thorium, with a relative abundance of 99.98%. It has a half life of 14.05 billion years, which makes it the longest-lived isotope of thorium. It decays by alpha decay to radium-228; its decay chain terminates at stable lead-208. Thorium-232 is a fertile material; it can capture a neutron to form thorium-233, which subsequently undergoes two successive beta decays to uranium-233, which is fissile. As such, it has been used in the thorium fuel cycle in nuclear reactors; various prototype thorium-fueled reactors have been designed. However, as of 2024, thorium fuel has not been widely adopted for commercial-scale nuclear power. Natural occurrence The half-life of thorium-232 (14 billion years) is more than three times the age of the Earth; thorium-232 therefore occurs in nature as a primordial nuclide. Other thorium isotopes occur in nature in much smaller quantities as intermediate products in the decay chains of uranium ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NIST
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical science laboratory programs that include nanoscale science and technology, engineering, information technology, neutron research, material measurement, and physical measurement. From 1901 to 1988, the agency was named the National Bureau of Standards. History Background The Articles of Confederation, ratified by the colonies in 1781, provided: The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states—fixing the standards of weights and measures throughout the United States. Article 1, section 8, of the Constitution of the United States, ratified in 1789, granted these powers to the new Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lund University
Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially founded in 1666 on the location of the old ''studium generale'' next to Lund Cathedral. Lund University has nine Faculty (division), faculties, with additional campuses in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, with around 47,000 students in 241 different programmes and 1,450 freestanding courses. The university has 560 partner universities in approximately 70 countries. It belongs to the League of European Research Universities as well as the global Universitas 21 network. Among those associated with the university are five Nobel Prize winners, a Fields Medal winner, prime ministers and business leaders. Two major facilities for materials research have been recent strategic priorities in Lund: MAX IV, a synchrotron radiation laboratory – in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potassium-40
Potassium-40 (K) is a long lived and the main naturally occurring radioactive isotope of potassium. Its half-life is 1.25 billion years. It makes up about 0.012% (120 parts-per notation, ppm) of natural potassium. Potassium-40 undergoes four different types of radioactive decay, including all three main types of beta decay: * Electron emission (β) to calcium-40, Ca with a decay energy of 1.31 electronvolt, MeV at 89.6% probability * Positron emission (β) to argon-40, Ar at 0.001% probability * Electron capture (EC) to Ar followed by a gamma decay emitting a photonAlso called a gamma ray, because it is produced by a transition in the nucleus with an energy of 1.46 MeV at 10.3% probability * Direct electron capture (EC) to the ground state of Ar at 0.1%. Both forms of the electron capture decay release further photons,Also called x-ray, as they are emitted from transitions of electrons when electrons from the outer shells fall into the inner shells to replace the electr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potassium
Potassium is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol K (from Neo-Latin ) and atomic number19. It is a silvery white metal that is soft enough to easily cut with a knife. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmospheric oxygen to form flaky white potassium peroxide in only seconds of exposure. It was first isolated from potash, the ashes of plants, from which its name derives. In the periodic table, potassium is one of the alkali metals, all of which have a single valence electron in the outer electron shell, which is easily removed to create cation, an ion with a positive charge (which combines with anions to form salts). In nature, potassium occurs only in ionic salts. Elemental potassium reacts vigorously with water, generating sufficient heat to ignite hydrogen emitted in the reaction, and burning with a lilac-flame color, colored flame. It is found dissolved in seawater (which is 0.04% potassium by weight), and occurs in many minerals such as orthoclase, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Atomic Mass
Atomic mass ( or ) is the mass of a single atom. The atomic mass mostly comes from the combined mass of the protons and neutrons in the nucleus, with minor contributions from the electrons and nuclear binding energy. The atomic mass of atoms, ions, or atomic nuclei is slightly less than the sum of the masses of their constituent protons, neutrons, and electrons, due to mass defect (explained by mass-energy equivalence: ). Atomic mass is often measured in dalton (Da) or unified atomic mass unit (u). One dalton is equal to the mass of a carbon-12 atom in its natural state, given by the atomic mass constant , where is the atomic mass of carbon-12. Thus, the numerical value of the atomic mass of a nuclide when expressed in daltons is close to its mass number. The relative isotopic mass (see section below) can be obtained by dividing the atomic mass of an isotope by the atomic mass constant , yielding a dimensionless value. Thus, the atomic mass of a carbon-12 atom is b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Solid Angle
In geometry, a solid angle (symbol: ) is a measure of the amount of the field of view from some particular point that a given object covers. That is, it is a measure of how large the object appears to an observer looking from that point. The point from which the object is viewed is called the ''apex'' of the solid angle, and the object is said to '' subtend'' its solid angle at that point. In the International System of Units (SI), a solid angle is expressed in a dimensionless unit called a ''steradian'' (symbol: sr), which is equal to one square radian, sr = rad2. One steradian corresponds to one unit of area (of any shape) on the unit sphere surrounding the apex, so an object that blocks all rays from the apex would cover a number of steradians equal to the total surface area of the unit sphere, 4\pi. Solid angles can also be measured in squares of angular measures such as degrees, minutes, and seconds. A small object nearby may subtend the same solid angle as a larger object ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Isotopes Of Rubidium
Rubidium (37Rb) has 36 isotopes, with naturally occurring rubidium being composed of just two isotopes; 85Rb (72.2%) and the radioactive 87Rb (27.8%). 87Rb has a half-life of . It readily substitutes for potassium in minerals, and is therefore fairly widespread. 87Rb has been used extensively in dating rocks; 87Rb decays to stable strontium-87 by emission of a beta particle (an electron ejected from the nucleus). During fractional crystallization, Sr tends to become concentrated in plagioclase, leaving Rb in the liquid phase. Hence, the Rb/Sr ratio in residual magma may increase over time, resulting in rocks with increasing Rb/Sr ratios with increasing differentiation. The highest ratios (10 or higher) occur in pegmatites. If the initial amount of Sr is known or can be extrapolated, the age can be determined by measurement of the Rb and Sr concentrations and the 87Sr/86Sr ratio. The dates indicate the true age of the minerals only if the rocks have not been subsequently altere ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
