SIF3001 Nuclear Physics
S1 2024/2025
Tutorial 1
Chapter 1 Nuclear Properties
1. Find the nuclear mean radius, R for the following nucleus
(a) 12C
(b) 23Na
(c) 27Al
(d) 48Ca
(e) 148Nd
(f) 197 Au
(g) 208 Pb
2. From your results (Question 1), reproduced Figure 3.5 in Krane.
3. Evaluate Coulomb energy, 𝐸! of the uniformly charged sphere for the same
nucleus in Question 1.
## ##
4. Find the difference in Coulomb energy, ∆𝐸! for "𝐵 and $𝐶 .
5. From the known masses of #"𝑂 and #"𝑁, calculate the difference in binding
energy. Assuming the difference arise from the difference in Coulomb energy,
compute the nuclear radius of #"𝑂 and #"𝑁.
6. Calculate the semiempirical mass formula for 𝐴 = 3 and 𝐴 = 90. Is the value
of 𝑍%&' ≈ 𝐴/2 is expected for small A? And what is the value of 𝑍%&' for the
large A as predicted in semiempirical mass formula?
7. Calculate semiempirical formula for 𝐴 = 125 and 𝐴 = 128 in Figure 3.18
(Krane) and find the 𝑍%&' .
8. Question (13) Krane.
9. Question (17) Krane.
SIF3001 Nuclear Physics
S1 2024/2025
Tutorial 2
Chapter 2 Force Between Nucleons
1. What is the minimum photon energy necessary to disassociate !𝐻? Take the
binding energy to be 2.224589 MeV?
2. From the spherical well potential condition, solve Schrodinger equation
describing nucleon-nucleon potential to obtain the following transcendental
equation
𝑘" cot 𝑘" 𝑅 = −𝑘!
3. From the transcendental equation above, plot 𝑉# against 𝑅 where 𝑅 is between
1.0 to 3.0 fm. Discuss the sensitivity 𝑉# to 𝑅.
4. Describe phase shift in nucleon-nucleon scattering.
5. Estimate the !𝐻 cross section using the equation below
4𝜋 𝛼
𝜎= /cos 𝑘! 𝑅 + sin 𝑘! 𝑅3
𝑘!! +𝛼 ! 𝑘!
and compare it with this equation
4𝜋
𝜎≃ (1 + 𝛼𝑅)
𝛼!
Use 𝛼 ≈ 0.2 fm-1 for this calculation and E ~ 10 keV.
6. Is nucleon-nucleon force spin dependent of spin independent? Explain why.
SIF3001 Nuclear Physics
S1 2024/2025
Tutorial 3
Chapter 3 Shell Models
1. Explain what is magic numbers.
2. What is degeneracy in shell model?
3. Why spin-orbit potential is important in shell model?
4. Give the expected shell-model spin and parity assignments for the ground
state of the following nuclei:
(a) 7Be (b)23Ne (c)31Si (d)41Ar
13 !# !$ %#
5. The low lying levels of O are ground state "
; 3.09 MeV, "
; 3.68 MeV, "
;
&$
3.85 MeV, " . The next states are about 7 MeV and above. Interpret these four
states according to the shell model.
!!#
6. The level scheme of Figure 5.6 (Krane) would lead us to expect 𝐼 ' = "
for the
"(% !$
ground state of 𝑇𝑙(𝑍 = 81) while the observed value is "
. A similar case
!%$ !#
occurs in "()𝑃𝑏(𝑁 = 125) and !**𝐻𝑔(𝑁 = 119) where " is expected but " is
observed. Given that the pairing force increases strongly with 𝑙, give the shell-
model configurations for these nuclei consistent with the observed spin-parity
assignments.
"(* *#
7. Compute the expected shell model quadrupole moment of 𝐵𝑖 4" 5 and
compare with experimental value -0.37 b.
SIF3001 NUCLEAR PHYSICS SEMESTER 1 2024/2025
TUTORIAL 4
Please submit solution to all questions in Spectrum latest by Friday, 31 January 2025.
Use Appendix C Table of Nuclear Properties in Krane (page 822) to find the mass of a nucleus.
Chapter 5 Beta Decay
1. Find the Q values of the following decays:
(a) 𝛽! : "#𝑁𝑒 → "#𝐶𝑢
(b) 𝛽$ : %&𝐶 → %&𝐵
(c) electron capture from K-shell: %&𝐶 → %&
𝐵
2. In the decay of "𝐻𝑒 → "𝐿𝑖 , the maximum 𝛽 kinetic energy is 3.150 ± 0.004 MeV. Find the mass
of "𝐻𝑒, given the mass of "𝐿𝑖 .
3. Classify the following decays according to allowed or forbidden decays. State the selection rule:
'( ! '( !
(a) 𝑆𝑟0!" 1 → 𝑌0#" 1
)" )" ∗ ! )"
(b) 𝑆𝑖(0! ) → 𝐴𝑙 (0 ) → 𝑀𝑔(0$ )
Chapter 6 Alpha Decay
4. Find the Q values of the following decays:
(a) )+-𝐵𝑘 → )+,𝐴𝑚 + 𝛼
(b) )+)𝑃𝑢 → )+,𝑈 + 𝛼
5. In the decay of )+)𝐶𝑚 → ),,𝑃𝑢, the maximum 𝛼 kinetic energy is 6112.9 ± 0.1 keV. Find the
mass of )+)𝐶𝑚, given the mass of ),'𝑃𝑢.
Chapter 7 Gamma Decay
6. A nucleus emits a photon in a 𝛾 transition between an excited state and the ground state with
energy 320.08419 ± 0.00042 keV. Find the energy of the excited state and comment on the
relationship between the nuclear recoil energy and the experimental uncertainty in the photon
energy.
Page 1 of 1
SIF3001 Nuclear Physics
S1 2024/2025
Tutorial 5
All questions are from Krane (Chapter on Nuclear Reaction, Nuclear Fission, Nuclear
Fusion and Nuclear Astrophysics)
Nuclear reactions
1. Question 1, page 441
2. Question 3, page 441
3. Question 7, page 441
Nuclear Fission
4. Question 1, page 525
5. Question 2, page 525
6. Question 6, page 525
Nuclear Fusion
7. Question 1, page 558
8. Question 2, page 558
9. Question 5, page 558
Nuclear Astrophysics
10. Question 7, page 787
11. Question 8, page 787
