- Prepare a short oral report on Albert Einstein and how his discovery of mass–energy equivalence influenced the world we live in today. Use at least three vocabulary words from this chapter.
- Using the periodic table, determine the atomic number of lead.
- Name two different nucleons.
- Positive charges repel one another. Yet several positively charged particles are stuck very close to one another in all the atoms around you. What keeps them together?
- How would the physical world change if the strong nuclear force no longer worked?
- How does the rest energy of an object on a table compare to its potential energy?
- What is the equation for mass–energy equivalence? What processes does it empower?
- Using the periodic table, determine the atomic mass of copper.
- Research Japanese theorist Hideki Yukawa and how mesons have influenced scientific thought today about the strong force. Prepare a two minute oral report on this scientist.
 How is the periodic table organized?
- What is the difference between atomic mass and atomic mass unit?
- Why is the mass of an atom nearly exactly equal to the mass of its nucleus?
- Isotope C has a more stable nucleus than isotope D. Which has a higher binding energy?
- Imagine a nucleus the size of your classroom. Would you expect this nucleus to be stable? Why or why not? Use mass–energy equivalence in your explanation.
- Describe evidence for, and the effects of, the strong nuclear force.
- Describe the difference between element and isotope.
 Which will have the higher binding energy: helium-4 (2 protons and 2 neutrons) or helium-3 (2 protons and 1 neutron)? Use your knowledge of the forces acting in the nucleus to predict the answer. Explain your prediction.
| | - How can isotopes be found on the periodic table?
- In what region of the periodic table would you expect to find an atom with Z = 5? An atom with Z = 89?
- Research and write a short report on the contributions that Clyde Cowan, Sheldon Glashow, Frederick Reines, Mohammad Abdus Salam, or Steven Weinberg made to the scientific understanding of the weak force and the impact that his research had on society.
- Describe evidence for, and the effects of, the weak force.
- Carbon dating allows us to determine when a fossil was created by measuring the ratio of radioactive carbon to nonradioactive carbon. Which of the four fundamental forces allows carbon dating?
- Describe two technological applications of radioactive decay.
- Research the work of Henri Becquerel. Write a couple of sentences about his research and what radioactivity is. Compare this to how radioactivity is portrayed in movies, TV shows, and novels.
- For a paper on the history of the discovery of the weak nuclear force, which of the following are acceptable ways to write citations?
- “Weak nuclear force.” Wikipedia.org. Wikipedia, accessed May 23, 2012.
- From the Internet.
- Johnson, George. Strange Beauty. New York: Vintage Books, 1999.
- Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years, whereas iodine-131 has a half-life of 8 days. Both were produced by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986. Which radioactive isotope will still remain in the environment in significant quantities decades after the disaster?
- Why does alpha or beta decay change one element into another while gamma decay does not change the element?
- Smoke detectors contain radioactive isotope americium-235 and emit alpha particles. According the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), these products are safe. Assess the extent to which specific evidence provided on the EPA website supports this claim.
- Create a histogram (bar graph) that visually displays the energy per nucleon released in a fission reaction versus a fusion reaction. (The information needed is in the text.)
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