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E.3 Radioactive Decay (SL Study Summary)

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E.3 Radioactive Decay (SL Study Summary)

Practice questions (32)

1. Radioactive decay is described as spontaneous, meaning it is affected by external conditions like temperature.
2. Radioactive decay is described as random, meaning we can predict exactly which nucleus will decay next.
3. To determine the true activity of a radioactive sample, what must be done with the background radiation count rate?
4. What is an alpha particle?
5. Which type of radiation has low penetrating power and can be stopped by a few centimeters of air or a single sheet of paper?
6. Which type of radiation has moderate penetrating power and can be stopped by a few millimeters of aluminum?
7. Which type of radiation has very high penetrating power, requiring dense materials like lead or concrete to be significantly attenuated?
8. What is a beta-minus particle?
9. What is a beta-plus particle?
10. What is a gamma ray?
11. In nuclear transformations, total nucleon number, total charge, and mass-energy are strictly conserved.
12. What happens to the nucleon number and atomic number during alpha decay?
13. In beta-minus decay, what fundamental particle transforms and what is emitted along with an electron?
14. In beta-plus decay, what fundamental particle transforms and what is emitted along with a positron?
15. What is characteristic of gamma decay regarding atomic or nucleon number?
16. What is the unit of activity, defined as one decay per second?
17. What is radioactive decay defined as?
18. Spontaneous decay means the nuclear transformation rate is affected by external physical or chemical conditions.
19. What does random decay imply about predicting individual nucleus decay?
20. What is background radiation?
21. To determine the true activity of a radioactive sample, what must be subtracted from the total measured count rate?
22. Which particle is a helium-4 nucleus?
23. Which type of radiation has high ionizing power and low penetrating power?
24. Which type of radiation is stopped by a few millimeters of aluminum?
25. Which type of radiation has zero electric charge and zero rest mass?
26. In alpha decay, what happens to the nucleon number of the parent nucleus?
27. What particles are emitted along with a positron in beta-plus decay?
28. Which of the following is NOT strictly conserved in all nuclear transformations?
29. Which type of decay emits a high-energy photon without altering the atomic or nucleon number?
30. What is the SI unit for activity, defined as one decay per second?
31. What is the relationship between the decay constant (λ) and the half-life (T₁/₂)?
32. The number of undecayed parent nuclei remaining after an elapsed time follows which type of relationship?