Deck 12: The Nucleus of the Atom: How Do Scientists Determine the Age of the Oldest Human Fossils

Question 1

The Yucca Mountain project for nuclear waste disposal

A) was stopped by environmentalists.
B) is similar to a project tested in Arizona.
C) was favored by most of the citizens in Nevada.
D) is a plan to bury nuclear wastes deep below the Earth's surface.
E) has been determined to be a failure.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Safety features in nuclear power plants include

A) a glass-lined regulator for the fuel rods.
B) locating nuclear power plants underground.
C) recycling the radioactive waste as medical supplies.
D) the protocol to insure a meltdown in case of human error.
E) a self-contained system for all cooling water coming in contact with the radioactive material.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of these is not classified as high-level radioactive material?

A) medical wastes
B) spent fuel rods greater than 50 years old
C) waste products from production of nuclear weapons
D) concrete and steel in nuclear reactor cores
E) unused nuclear fuel rods

Answer 3

A

Question 4

How many protons, neutrons, and electrons are contained in uranium-238?

A) 238 protons, 92 neutrons, 238 electrons
B) 119 protons, 119 neutrons, 232 electrons
C) 92 protons, 146 neutrons, 92 electrons
D) 238 protons, 238 neutrons, 119 electrons
E) more data needed

Question 5

A scientist who uses carbon-14 dating is actually measuring the

A) age of the Earth.
B) age of the igneous rocks.
C) time since the death of a living thing.
D) time that an artifact was made.
E) number of carbon ions in a material.

Question 6

The difference between nuclear fusion and nuclear fission is that

A) Energy is released from fusion, but not from fission.
B) Energy is released from fission, but not from fusion.
C) Fusion splits apart a nucleus; fission combines two nuclei into one.
D) Fusion combines two nuclei into one, fission splits apart a nucleus.
E) Only fission is involved in hydrogen bomb explosions; both fusion and fission are required for atomic bomb explosions.

Question 7

One characteristic of radon-222 is that

A) it is fluorescent.
B) the odor it produces is distinctive.
C) it is tightly bound to its host rock.
D) the best protection against it is to tightly seal your home.
E) it is inert.

Question 8

A particular isotope has a half-life of 10 minutes. If we start with 2,000 atoms now, in a half hour we will have how many atoms left?

A) 2,000 atoms
B) 1,000 atoms
C) 500 atoms
D) 250 atoms
E) 125 atoms

Question 9

When we say that radioactivity is nature's "philosopher's stone," we mean that

A) radioactivity was discovered by Plato.
B) the number of neutrons in a radioactive nucleus can change.
C) radioactivity can change one element into another by changing the number of protons in a nucleus.
D) electron spin varies in a radioactive atom.
E) any atom that undergoes radioactive decay eventually becomes an atom of lead.

Question 10

Nuclear quantum leaps

A) result in the emission of a photon.
B) are coincident with the absorption of a photon.
C) are a generic phrase for electromagnetic radiation.
D) occur when a larger nucleus is formed from two smaller ones.
E) shift particles in a nucleus to different energy levels.

Question 11

A nucleus of the imaginary atom "Woofnium" (73 protons, 97 neutrons), decays by beta emission with a half-life of 26,000 years. After one half-life, the daughter nucleus will be

A) Wafnium (72 protons, 95 neutrons).
B) Wefnium (71 protons, 97 neutrons).
C) Woofnium (73 protons, 97 neutrons) in a lower energy state.
D) Wifnium (74 protons, 96 neutrons).
E) The daughter nucleus cannot be predicted from the information given.

Question 12

Elements heavier than uranium have been produced by scientists who

A) changed lead into gold.
B) used nuclear fission.
C) originally worked with cold fusion.
D) bombard a heavy element like lead with krypton ions.
E) work on the cutting edge of biological research.

Question 13

The amount of energy that is estimated to be contained in the nucleus of a grain of sand would

A) heat a liter of water in a microwave oven for 5 minutes.
B) provide a year's worth of energy for the United States.
C) equal six dump-truck loads of coal.
D) be the same as one day's hydroelectric energy output of Niagara Falls.
E) equal the gasoline energy needed for a cross-country trip.

Question 14

Which of the following is true about radioactive decay?

A) Once a nucleus begins to decay it is destroyed.
B) A helium atom was the first particle identified as a product of radioactive decay.
C) Gamma decay depends on chemical reactions.
D) Alpha decay results in one less neutron and one more proton.
E) After beta decay, the number of protons in a nucleus is unchanged.

Question 15

How do two isotopes of the same element differ?

A) Their nuclei have different number of protons.
B) Their electrons have different orbits.
C) They have different electrical charges.
D) Their neutrons differ in number.
E) They have a different atomic number.

Question 16

If you plotted the number of neutrons against the number of protons of all atoms listed in the periodic table of the elements, what would you discover?

A) All chemical elements have multiple isotopes.
B) Approximately 2,000 isotopes have been identified.
C) The number of protons nearly equals the number of neutrons for the lighter elements.
D) Heavier elements tend to have more neutrons than protons.
E) All of these are correct.

Question 17

Electrons and protons differ in their

A) mass and charge.
B) charge only.
C) chemical identity.
D) shape.
E) energy.

Question 18

Most of the energy in a nuclear power plant is generated by conversion of

A) mass into heat energy.
B) two hydrogen atoms into helium.
C) heat energy into mechanical energy.
D) magnetic fields into electricity.
E) chemical potential energy into heat.

Question 19

Which force holds the nucleus together?

A) gravity
B) strong force
C) weak force
D) electromagnetic force
E) centripetal force

Question 20

A biography of Marie Curie would include the fact that she

A) won the Nobel Prize in physics and chemistry.
B) died of natural causes.
C) pioneered X-ray diagnostics for soldiers in WWII.
D) was accepted by other scientists of her era.
E) discovered DNA.

Question 21

What arguments are used against building national nuclear disposal facilities?

Question 22

How do isotopes of an element compare to one another?

Question 23

How can a homeowner remedy high radon levels in a home?

Question 24

Which of the following statements is a characteristic of environmental radioactivity?

A) Much of the Earth's interior heat comes from alpha decay.
B) There was no environmental radioactivity before the discovery of nuclear energy by humans.
C) All elements have both radioactive and stable isotopes.
D) Radon atoms will sink in water.
E) Much of Earth's interior heat comes from beta decay.

Question 25

Why were the medieval alchemists unsuccessful in finding a philosopher's stone?

Question 26

Why is a nuclear explosion much more powerful than an explosion of dynamite, for the same mass of explosive material?

Question 27

How did Ernest Rutherford use a simple experiment to determine the source of helium in his experiment with radioactive materials?

Question 28

What is the process of fusion and how is fusion energy made?

Question 29

If an atom emits two protons and two neutrons, the atom has

A) created a daughter nucleus from the parent nucleus.
B) emitted an alpha particle.
C) changed the mass and chemical identity of the atom.
D) produced a small amount of helium.
E) all of these are correct.

Question 30

Long-term effects of radioactive exposure can

A) damage chromosomes.
B) interrupt cell repair mechanisms.
C) cause birth defects.
D) None of these.
E) improve one's memory.

Question 31

How do alpha, beta, and gamma radiation each affect the element losing these particles?

Question 32

An electron is to a beta particle as helium is to a(n)

A) alpha particle.
B) beta particle.
C) gamma particle.
D) isotope.
E) neutron.

Question 33

Compare the professional life Marie Curie lived at the turn of the twentieth century with a life she would have had in current times.

Question 34

The complete uranium-238 decay chain has a half-life of approximately

A) 5,700 years
B) 4.5 billion years
C) 7 hours
D) 4 days
E) 247,000 years

Question 35

Describe the process of building and operating a nuclear power plant. What safety features in United States power plants were missing from those in Chernobyl?

Question 36

What was the significance of Wolfgang Pauli's discovery of the neutrino?

Question 37

Compare the way that the atomic bomb works to the way that the hydrogen bomb works.

Question 38

By what process are scientists making superheavy elements? What is the practical application for this basic research?

Question 39

Which test would you choose for determining the age of an organic artifact found among Roman ruins? Why?

Question 40

What is ionization and why is it damaging to health?

Question 41

What does the term proton mean in the original Latin and why is this name appropriate?

Question 42

Why would you expect there to be a radioactive decay chain of many intermediate products as opposed to one single jump to the ultimate daughter product?

Question 43

Why are atomic nuclei greater than 92 rarely observed in nature?

Question 44

What is the effect of the emission of one alpha particle from the nucleus of an atom of uranium-238?

Question 45

What is gamma radiation?

Question 46

If you were to seal a small amount of pure carbon-14 in a jar and allow it to sit undisturbed for several tens of thousands of years, what would become of the carbon and what would be in the jar when it was opened?

Question 47

What is the name for the element with six protons in the nucleus?

Question 48

Why do geologists relatively rarely use carbon-14 dating (as compared to, say, an archaeologist)?

Question 49

What is radioactivity?

Question 50

How would it affect our world if all chemistry took place at the nuclear level?