Neutrons Isotopes Isobars Isotones

Introduction

The neutron was believed to exist before its discovery in 1932 by English physicist Dr James Chadwick. For illustration, it was known that helium had only two protons while having an atomic mass of four. Moreover, after the discovery of neutrons and protons, there was also a new concept that come into play, Isotopes, Isobars and Isotones. The terms are very simple but based on the number of neutrons and protons in the atomic mass unit.

What are neutrons?

These are the 3 subatomic particles that compose an atom, and the neutron is one among them. It coexists with protons in the atom's nucleus and in combination with protons, it forms an atom's atomic mass. A neutron is unbiased (having no charge) or we can say neutral; it has no charge, whereas protons have a positive charge and an electron's a negative charge.

• A proton has a mass of 1.6726×10^-27 kg while a neutron has a mass of 1.6749×10^-27 kg.

The approximate mass of an atom in a.m.u. comes from adding together all the neutrons and protons that are present in one atomic mass unit. A neutron can be categorised as various types of particles.

• It is a nucleon, as was previously mentioned. Because it has more than two quarks.

• As it is sensitive to a strong nuclear force, a neutron is ultimately a hadron.

• Since it is composed of three quarks, it is also a baryon.

Smaller basic particles called quarks have fractional charges. One Up quark has a +2/3 charge and two Down quarks, each with has -1/3 charge make up a neutron. The neutron has no net charge because the charges on its three quarks sum up to zero.

Due to its magnetic field, the neutron is not an elementary particle. The magnetic field has an impact on these subatomic particles, whereas an electric field has no impact as these are neutral.

Productions of Neutrons

There are few methods of neutron production as these are not available in like metals.

Neutron Generator

• In this method, an exothermic reaction between deuterium and tritium produces neutrons.

• The kinetic energy of 14.1 MeV is used to produce the neutron. The experiment uses a tiny 100kV accelerator to perform deuterium atoms striking a tritium goal on a smaller scale and results in the emission of neutrons.

• This type of neutron source can generate 1011 neutrons per second.

Nuclear Fission Reaction

• Even though many nuclei have the potential to break into two pieces but only a few, such as plutonium-239, uranium-235, and uranium-233, may initiate a fission chain reaction.

• The fission is a result of the neutrons generated when these nuclei split apart, the generated neutron can lead to the fission of further nuclei.

• By using thermal neutrons, uranium-235 undergoes nuclear fission, resulting in the production of an average of 2.4 fast neutrons and 180MeV of energy per fission.

• The Uranium we use in a fission reaction is 0.7per cent of naturally occurring uranium which is known as Uranium-235.

Spallation Process

• In this process, we attack the target nuclei with particles whose de-Broglie wavelength is smaller than the nucleus radius.

• The whole process is carried out in a high-energetic neutron generator.

• The reaction starts when a certain particle energy threshold which is typically between5 and15 MeV, is crossed.

• The protons which have excessive energy hit heavy target materials to produce neutrons.

Isotopes

People in a home are linked but not identical and they form families. Isotopes, another name for families, exist for elements. Isotopes are members of the same family of elements but have varying numbers of neutrons.

By definition, Isotopes are substances with the same amount of protons but differing quantities of neutrons.

The atomic number is 6 of carbon has six protons. Three isotopes of carbon are found in nature: carbon 12, which has six neutrons (six protons + six neutrons = 12); carbon 13, which has seven neutrons; and carbon 14, which has eight neutrons. These all have the same number of protons but different neutrons.

Examples of Isotopes

There are several examples of isotopes

Isotopes of Carbon

• Carbon-12

• Carbon-14

Isotopes of Uranium

• Uranium-235

• Uranium -238

• Uranium-234

Isotopes of Hydrogen

• Protium

• Deuterium

• Tritium

Features of Isotopes

• They differ in mass but have the same atomic number.

• They have varying numbers of neutrons but the same number of protons and electrons.

• All of their physical and chemical characteristics aside from those that are related to the nucleus are broadly similar.

• They are situated in the same location on the periodic table.

• They have various numbers of neutrons but the same amount of protons and electrons.

• These atoms all belong to the same elements means to say from the same family.

Isobars

Isobars are chemical element units that possess the same atomic mass but have different atomic numbers. The atomic mass is the summation of protons and neutrons in an atom. As a result, we can also advocate that the atomic mass of an atom and the number of nucleons in its nucleus are equal. There will be an equal amount of nucleons in it.

Protons and neutrons alone will have different numbers, but isobars will always have the same number of nucleons. Because their atomic numbers differ, isobars always have unique atomic structures. The difference in the number of nucleons is made up of the number of neutrons.

Some examples of isobars

$$\mathrm{_{40}^{18}\textrm{Ar},\:_{40}^{19}\textrm{K},\:_{40}^{20}\textrm{K}}$$

$$\mathrm{_{24}^{11}\textrm{Na},\:_{24}^{12}\textrm{Mg}}$$

$$\mathrm{_{58}^{26}\textrm{Fe},\:_{58}^{27}\textrm{Ni}}$$

$$\mathrm{_{76}^{32}\textrm{ce},\:_{76}^{34}\textrm{Se}}$$

Conclusion

Terms such as isotopes, neutrons, isobars, etc are very crucial for the study of elemental properties. These particles are also very important for various phenomena, such as nuclear power generation, some medical therapies, etc.

FAQs

1. Who discovered Isotopes?

The concept of isotopes was stated by Frederick Soddy. The concept of isotopes was introduced in 1913.

2. Who discovered Isobars?

Alfred Walter Stewart introduced the concept of isobars. He discovered isobars in 1918.

3. Who introduced Isotones?

The term isotones were proposed by the German scientist K. Guggenheimer. This discovery took place in 1932.

4. What are the applications of Isotopes?

Isotopes are very useful in every section of science. Isotopes can be used in the Kinetic isotopic effect to examine the mechanism of the reaction. Moreover, isotopes are also used for the determination of the concentration of an element. We also use the radiocarbon dating technique for ageing determination which is based on the use of carbon isotopes.

5. Name the element having maximum isotopes and minimum isotopes.

The element which has the maximum number of isotopes is Tin. It has 10 stable isotopes. On the other hand, Hydrogen has the minimum number of stable isotopes.