Tutorials and Problem Sets

Tutorials

1. Historical
   • The Discovery of Radioactivity
   • Discovery of Alpha and Beta Decay
   • The Discovery of Alpha Particle Scattering

2. Radioactive Decay Types & Writing Their Equations
   • Writing Decay Equations - Alpha and Beta
   • Writing Decay Equations - Positron and Electron Capture
   • Other Types of Radioactivity (Gamma, Neutron)

3. Miscellaneous
   • Isotopes
   • The Nuclear Symbol: Atomic Number and Mass Number
   • The Transmutation Theory of Rutherford and Soddy

Problem Sets

1. General Radioactivity Questions
2. 82 Decay Equations - Alpha, Beta, Electron Capture, Positron (pdf) The Answers
3. 65 Nuclear Reaction Equations (pdf) The Answers
4. Half-Life Problems: Part One (15 problems)
5. Half-Life Problems: Part Two (16 problems)
6. Half-Life Problems: Carbon-14 only

Other Resources

Videos

1. An analogy for half-life
2. Half-life I: an alternate solution to a worksheet problem
3. Half-life II: a problem which measures decay in counts rather than grams
4. Half-life III: a problem which measures decay in disintegrations rather than grams
5. Half-life IV: a problem which measures decay in beta particles rather than grams
6. Half-life V: a problem which measures decay in disintegrations rather than grams
7. Radioactive decay: a problem which uses third-life rather than half-life
8. Alpha Decay I
9. Alpha Decay II
10. Beta Decay I
11. Beta Decay II
12. Nuclear equation: writing a balanced fission equation
13. Radioactive decay sequence

Links

1. Japanese man identified as a survivor of TWO atomic bombs. He passed away Jan. 4, 2010
2. The Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Isotopes Project

Miscellaneous

1. A Lecture Graphic on Alpha Decay
2. A Lecture Graphic on Beta Decay
3. A Lecture Graphic on Electron Capture
4. A Lecture Graphic on Positron Decay
5. A Lecture Graphic on the Nuclear Symbol
6. Lecture notes on the mathematics of radioactive decay
7. A time line discussion on the discovery of radioactivity and isotopes
8. Building An Atomic Bomb
9. The Trinity Site
10. Hiroshima and Nagasaki