OCR A level Physics: Radioactivity

OCR A level Physics: Chapter 25 Radioactivity is apart of the Module 6: Particle and Medical Physics

All presentations come with worked examples, solutions and homeworks.

25.1 Radioactivity
25.2 Nuclear decay equations
25.3 Half-life and Activity
25.4 Radioactive Decay Calculations
25.5 Modelling Radioactive Decay
25.6 Radioactive Dating

• Types of ionising radiation (alpha, beta-plus/beta-minus, gamma)
• Penetration power and ionising power
• Detecting radiation with a Geiger (GM tube) counter
• Background radiation and correct count rates
• Electric and magnetic fields affect ionising radiation
• Cloud chambers
• Typical speeds of radiation produced form nuclear decays
• Conservation rules for nuclear decays
• Nuclear notation
• Alpha decays
• Beta-minus and beat-plus decays
• Gamma decays
• Decay chains
• The reason why radioactive decays are considered random and spontaneous
• Rolling dice being a good analogue for radioactive decays
• Definition of half-life
• Determining half-life from a graph.
• Calculating half-life from a table of data.
• Activity of a sample in Bq
• The decay constant derivation
• Decay constant and half-life
• Using exponentials to calculate activity and number of nuclei present
• Solving Differential Equations (beyond A-level Physics course)
• Iterative Method
• Selecting appropriate time intervals
• Comparing answers from the iterative method and exact solution.
• State what isotopes of carbon are used in carbon dating.
• Explain how carbon dating works.
• Calculate the age of objects with carbon dating.