All Questions
Tagged with electromagnetic-radiation nuclear-physics
42
questions
42
votes
7
answers
5k
views
Do nuclei emit photons?
Generally in text books they say that when a electron goes from high energy state to a lower energy state it emits photons.
My question is, it is possible that a proton that goes from high energy ...
- 445
39
votes
4
answers
7k
views
Why exactly do atomic bombs explode?
In atomic bombs, nuclear reactions provide the energy of the explosion. In every reaction, a thermal neutron reaches a plutonium or a uranium nucleus, a fission reaction takes place, and two or three ...
- 810
9
votes
1
answer
495
views
Why do excited states in $^4$He not decay by photon emission?
Here's a level scheme for the $^4$He nucleus (source; click image to see full size):
Notice that all of the confirmed decay modes are by disintegration — emission of a neutron, proton, or deuteron. ...
rob♦
- 91.6k
8
votes
4
answers
2k
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How can photons interact with nuclei?
How can photons such as X-rays or gamma rays interact with the nuclei of atoms given that, as I understand it, the length scale of a nucleus is around a couple of femtometers? So, shouldn’t the size ...
- 133
7
votes
2
answers
1k
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Why is radiometric dating only considered a use of alpha and beta radiation?
I was told that a use of both alpha and beta decay is in radiometric dating.
Why is radiometric dating not also considered to be a use of gamma radiation?
- 1,276
5
votes
2
answers
983
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Xray compression of secondary in hydrogen bomb
Accounts of the "secret" of the hydrogen bomb describe Xrays from a primary fission explosion reflecting off of the bomb case (occasionally passing through polystyrene foam) and compressing and ...
- 1,484
5
votes
1
answer
2k
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Why 3He(n,p)3H nuclear reaction proceeds but 3He(n,gamma)4He heavily suppressed?
The neutron capture reaction 3He(n,p)3H is very useful for neutron detection as the Q value of ~700keV is converted to kinetic energies in the produced p and 3H. These charged products can then ionize ...
- 373
4
votes
1
answer
5k
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Gamma spectroscopy - Table of radioactive isotopes with gamma energy search
For anyone doing gamma spectroscopy by hand, the task is considerably eased by tables like this:
http://nucleardata.nuclear.lu.se/toi/
Where not only can you search for particular nuclides, but you ...
- 1,756
4
votes
1
answer
88
views
How does inner Bremsstrahlung work?
I'm trying to understand inner Bremsstrahlung. I know this applies to beta minus decay, but have a hard time understanding how it works. In the beta decay, electron is emitted from nucleus. I believe ...
- 200
4
votes
0
answers
49
views
What is the lowermost energy a photon can be emitted by hyperfine transitions?
The 21 centimeter Hydrogen line comes from the hyperfine transition from its one electron, which leads to a photon with the energy of $2.24\times10^{-25}$ joules being emitted.
Can lower energy levels ...
- 441
3
votes
1
answer
406
views
How does mass-energy equivalence work differently in nuclear decay where there is nucleus excitation?
I feel that I have a misconception somewhere in my understanding of quantum physics and nuclear decay.
In fission, when the products have less mass in total than the reactant, the excess is ...
- 31
3
votes
2
answers
475
views
Measuring nuclear magnetic resonance
We are in process of designing an NMR experiment for our physics lab. The equipment has been set and we obtained resonance frequency for some samples. The setup is a bit rudimentary with a very small ...
- 349
3
votes
0
answers
31
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How nucleons get excited? [duplicate]
Gamma rays can be released when nucleons at higher energy states fall down to lower energy states, but how do nucleons get that much high energy to release gamma rays?
- 31
2
votes
2
answers
787
views
Would it be possible to detect nuclear explosion on exoplanet?
How strong would have to be nuclear explosion on exo-planet that orbits some other star for it to be detectable outside of that system.
Or it would be impossible due to amount of radiation coming from ...
- 1,125
2
votes
1
answer
3k
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Should I observe single/double escape peaks for all energies above 1022 keV
I have already asked a question similar to this, but that question was specifically relating to the case of K-40. I'm going to generalize it to any case
My question is to do with the field of gamma ...
- 1,756