10.6 Practice Problems
Attempt these problems as if they were real exam questions in an exam environment.
Only look up information if you get severely stuck. Never look at the solution until you have exhausted all efforts to solve the problem.
Nitrogen-15 radioactively decays into boron-11. What else is produced as a result of this decay?
- α particle
- β– particle
- β+ particle
- positron
Solution
Answer: A
Phosphorus-30 radioactively decays into silicon-30. What else was produced as a result of this decay?
- positron
- α particle
- β– particle
- electron
Solution
Answer: A
An isotope is found to be unstable due to the having too many neutrons. Which decay process will allow the isotope to reduce the number of neutrons it has?
- β– decay
- β+ decay
- gamma ray emission
- combustion
Solution
Answer: A
An isotope is found to be unstable due to the having too many protons. Which decay process will allow the isotope to reduce the number of protons it has?
- electron capture
- beta decay
- gamma ray emission
- combustion
Solution
Answer: A
The iron-56 nuclide has a mass defect of 0.5302 amu. What is the binding energy (in MeV/nucleon) for this nuclide?
- 8.83
- 13.62
- 63.34
- 499.34
Solution
Answer: A
A 3.192 g sample of 95Tc is sealed in a container. Only 0.688 g remain after 44.2 h. What is the rate constant (in h–1)?
- –1.535
- 0.0347
- 0.143
- 3.431
Solution
Answer: B
A radioactive isotope is found to have a decay constant of 0.05 h–1. What is the half-life of this isotope (in days)?
- 0.0
- 0.578
- 13.86
- 332.64
Solution
Answer: C
A radioactive isotope is found to have a decay constant of 1.85 h–1. What is the half-life of this isotope (in h)?
- 0.375
- 1.048
- 6.337
- 12.893
Solution
Answer: A
The carbon-16 isotope has a mass defect of 0.11888 amu. What is the nuclear binding energy per nucleon (in MeV/nucleon to one decimal place) for this isotope?
- 2.4
- 4.8
- 6.9
- 9.3
Solution
Answer: C