20.3 Spontaneous Routes of Nuclear Decay, Fission, & Fusion | General Chemistry

Chad describes five spontaneous routes of nuclear decay as well as fission and fusion in this lesson. This includes alpha decay, beta decay, positron emission, electron capture, and gamma decay. It is shown how to predict the product of each of these types of decay and which of these routes of decay is/are most likely for a particular nuclide. This is often determined by the atomic number of the nuclide (for large atomic number) and/or by the N/Z ratio (ratio of neutrons to protons). When the N/Z ratio is too high beta decay is likely. When the N/Z ratio is too low either positron emission (for lighter nuclei) or electron capture (for heavier nuclei) are likely.

Fission and fusion are also covered. Fission is the splitting apart of large nuclei into smaller nuclei and is the type of reaction occurring in our nuclear reactors using large nuclei such as uranium and plutonium. Fusion is the 'fusing' together of lighter nuclei and occurs at the core of a star and in hydrogen bomb explosions.

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00:00 Lesson Introduction
00:31 Overview of the Routes of Nuclear Decay
01:30 Alpha Decay (aka Alpha Emission)
03:35 Beta Decay (aka Beta Emission)
07:28 Positron Emission
09:44 Electron Capture
11:45 Gamma Decay (aka Gamma Emission)
13:20 How to Predict the Route of Nuclear Decay
16:04 Fission and Fusion

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