Additional Problems
The wiki-phony site states that the atomic mass of chlorine is 40 g/mol. Check this result. Hint: The two, most common stable isotopes of chlorine are: and . (The abundance of Cl-35 is , and the abundance of Cl-37 is .)
A particle physicist discovers a neutral particle with a mass of 2.02733 u that he assumes is two neutrons bound together.
(a) Find the binding energy.
(b) What is unreasonable about this result?
A nuclear physicist finds of in a piece of uranium ore (T1/2 = ). (a) Use the decay law to determine how much would had to have been on Earth when it formed ago for to be left today. (b) What is unreasonable about this result? (c) How is this unreasonable result resolved?
A group of scientists use carbon dating to date a piece of wood to be 3 billion years old. Why doesn’t this make sense?
According to your lab partner, a 2.00-cm-thick sodium-iodide crystal absorbs all but of rays from a radioactive source and a 4.00-cm piece of the same material absorbs all but Is this result reasonable?
In the science section of the newspaper, an article reports the efforts of a group of scientists to create a new nuclear reactor based on the fission of iron (Fe). Is this a good idea?
The ceramic glaze on a red-orange “Fiestaware” plate is and contains 50.0 grams of , but very little . (a) What is the activity of the plate? (b) Calculate the total energy that will be released by the decay. (c) If energy is worth 12.0 cents per , what is the monetary value of the energy emitted? (These brightly-colored ceramic plates went out of production some 30 years ago, but are still available as collectibles.)
Large amounts of depleted uranium are available as a by-product of uranium processing for reactor fuel and weapons. Uranium is very dense and makes good counter weights for aircraft. Suppose you have a 4000-kg block of . (a) Find its activity. (b) How many calories per day are generated by thermalization of the decay energy? (c) Do you think you could detect this as heat? Explain.
A piece of wood from an ancient Egyptian tomb is tested for its carbon-14 activity. It is found to have an activity per gram of carbon of . What is the age of the wood?