Nuclear Reactions and

Origin of Elements
MATO

ATOM
RCLEUNA CREATINOS

NUCLEAR REACTIONS
DIOIRAAVITYCT

RADIOACTIVITY
EARLUCN IOFISSN

NUCLEAR FISSION
EANCLRU IFONUS

NUCLEAR FUSION
ELESNTEM

ELEMENTS
CTSRONELE

ELECTRONS
PNOSROT

PROTONS
RNONEUT

NEUTRON
EIOPSOT

ISOTOPE
NARUCLE MUTATIONTRANS

NUCLEAR
TRANSMUTATION
AHALP DCAEY

ALPHA DECAY
TABE CADEY

BETA DECAY
MAGAM TIONRADIA

GAMMA RADIATION
PRONOSIT ISEMSION

POSITRON EMISSION
TRONELEC PTUCARE

ELECTRON CAPTURE
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1j3a2cMjs
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50RWvXmQcFk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPRFF-eCGT8
 Nuclear Reactions
• Processes in which a nucleus either combines with another nucleus
(through nuclear fusion) or splits into smaller nuclei (through nuclear
fission)
• Involve the emission of energetic particles of an atom, a phenomenon
known as radioactivity
• The radioactive particles may be elements, electrons, proton and
neutrons
• Notice that each particle involved in a reaction has a superscript and
subscript at the left-hand side of the symbol.
• These superscript and subscript are the particles atomic mass (A) and
Radioactive Particles
• Electron- negative charge (-)
• Proton- positive charge (+)
• Neutron- no charge
• Alpha particle- high-speed particle consisting of 2 protons
and 2 neutrons
• Beta particle- high- speed electron
• Gamma ray- high-energy streams of photons
• Positron- positive-charged electron
• Fission of Urannium 235
• Here we see a single neutron being fired at Uranium- 235 nucleus.
Upon collision the Uranium 235 splits into Barium 141 and Krypton -
92
Cosmic Origin
of
Elements
 Big Bang
• Existence of all matter is believed to
have started with the birth of the
universe.
• Most widely accepted explanation to
the origin of the universe
• 1900
• Edwin Hubble
• Universe is expanding
 Big Bang
• Postulates approximately 14BYA, a hot dense mass
about 1cm in diameter experienced a huge amount
explosion, spreading its products as a fast moving
cloud of gas.
• The event was accompanied by an emission of a huge
amount of light
• Within the first second of the explosion, subatomic
particles such as protons, electrons and neutrons were
formed
• As the expanding universe cooled, the protons and
neutrons started to fuse (combine) to form heavier
 Edwin Hubble
• Offered an explanation that the
universe is expanding
• Observed that many stars and
galaxies shine with light shifted
toward the red end of the visible
spectrum
• This phenomenon is called
redshift which occurs because
the light waves of cosmic bodies
are stretched into low frequency
red waves as they move away
from the observer on Earth
• Suggests that size of the redshift is proportional to the distance and
speed of a star that is moving away from Earth
• With Hubble’s data, cosmologies have traced the expansion of the
universe back to a time when it was an entity smaller than an atom
 Big Bang
• Subsequent nuclear fusion reactions, in which
two atomic nuclei join to form a new type of
nuclei, resulted in the production of other light
elements and their isotopes.
• Astronomers believe that a few minutes after the
Big bang, the universe was composed of
approximately 75% (by mass) Hydrogen, 25%
(primarily Helium), and trace amounts of Lithium.
• The processes through which these light
elements formed are generally called Big bang
 Big Bang
Nucleosynthesis
 Stellar
Formation
and
Evolution
 Stellar Formation and Evolution
• The universe continuously expanded for
several years and the cloud of hydrogen
and helium gases condensed to form stars,
including the sun
• Over millions of years the stars made of
hydrogen became hotter and denser.
• During this stellar evolution, nuclear
reactions continued, which produced
elements heavier than lithium
 Stellar Formation and Evolution
•The light elements combined to
form atoms of carbon, neon,
oxygen, silicon, and iron
•Starting from a small, young, yellow
star, successive nuclear reactions
occurred until it became a giant red
star
 Stellar Formation and Evolution
• The reactions involved in the formation of
each new element happened in regions or
layers called fusion shells.
• As more elements were produced, new
layers added up to the size of the star until
it became a red giant
• Stars are described to have an “onion skin
structure” as they evolved and produced
new elements
Stellar Formation and Evolution
• Younger yellow stars made up of hydrogen were fuelled
by the energy released from the fusion of hydrogen
nuclei to form helium
• In the outer layer of a yellow star, the burning of
hydrogen through nuclear fusion produced helium
• Once enough helium is produced, these nuclei became
concentrated at the core of the star, making
temperature hotter at the region.
• Hydrogen fusion continued, but in a shell surrounding
the helium core.
• The reactions in the hydrogen fusion shell are shown as
• When the core reached the temperature
enough for helium fusion to occur, helium
burning began
• The outer temperature then became colder
than the core, which caused the star to
become red.
• 84Be formed from helium fusion
• Another 42He nucleus fused with 84Be,
forming 126C
• These reactions happened in the helium
• The carbon nuclei produced became more
concentrated at the centre of the star, as
helium was earlier.
• This produced a carbon core, that when it
reached a certain temperature to allow
carbon fusion, it produced neon within the
carbon fusion shell.
• Nuclear reactions that occurred in the
shell include the following:
•Neon then became
concentrated at the core,
nuclear fusion continued,
producing oxygen
•When oxygen became
concentrated at the core,
nuclear fusion continued,
producing silicon.
• The fusion of 2814Si produced radioactive 5628Ni, which
then decayed to iron.
• More nuclear fusion happened between different
nuclei to form other elements.
• However, the production of elements stopped when
iron was formed. Since iron is the most stable nuclei,
it cannot undergo nuclear fusion.
• In all of the previous reactions, a great amount of
energy is produced, enough to fuel more nuclear
reactions.
• However, in order to produce elements heavier than
iron, energy input is necessary.
• At this point, the star has already exhausted its
 Stellar
Explosion
 Stellar Explosion
• As the red giant star exhausted the
nuclear fuel of light elements, its core
started to collapse that eventually led to
the explosion of the star.
• This violent explosion called supernova
released a huge amount of nuclear
energy and produced, through neutron
capture and radioactive decay, other
elements heavier than iron.
 Stellar Explosion
• Neutron capture reactions were either as fast a
fraction of a second or as slow as a few million years
• These processes occurred as a seed nucleus captured
neutrons, forming heavier isotope of the element that
was either stable or radioactive.
• Stable isotopes continued to capture neutrons and
formed other heavier isotopes of the seed nuclei.
• Unstable or radioactive isotopes, however, underwent
beta decay, producing an isotope of a new element.
 Stellar Explosion
• For seed nuclei with relatively few neutrons
(from iron to bismuth), neutron capture
occurred so slowly that beta decay of the
product isotope happened before it captured
another neutron.
• This is now referred to as the slow process or
s-process
• An example of this process is the formation of
copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) nuclei from nickel
 Stellar Explosion
• However, some series of neutron capture
occurred very fast that the seed nucleus
turned into a relatively heavier nucleus
before beta decay took place.
• Such process is referred to as the rapid
process or r-process, which is exemplified
in the formation of cobalt (Co) from iron
(Fe)
 Stellar Explosion
• Different isotopes and much heavier
elements were formed during the neutron
capture and decay processes.
• All these elements, along with the
fragments of the star during supernova,
were released into the vast space and
gradually condensed to form different
planets like Earth, new stars and other
heavenly bodies.