Course Overview:

Concept and history of nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry, nuclear entities, nuclear reactions, natural and artificial radioactivity. Kinetics of nuclear reactions, laws of radioactive decay. Energetics of nuclear reactions, mass and energy balance of nuclei and energy of alpha, beta decay, gamma deexcitation in nuclear reactions.

Outline:

1. Concept and history of nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry and their place among scientific disciplines.
2. Subatomic structure of matter, atomic nucleus, its description, properties and stability.
3. Nuclear reactions, their classification, characteristics and mechanism.
4. Natural and artificial radioactivity, natural decay chains.
5. Kinetics of nuclear reactions: kinetic laws of radioactive decay, parameters characterizing the rate of radioactive decay.
6. Activity and amount of radionuclide.
7. Kinetics of formation of radionuclides.
8. Activity of a system of independent radionuclides.
9. Radionuclides in genetic sequence, radioactive equilibria, kinetics of dual transformations.
10. Energetics of nuclear reactions: nuclear energy, exoenergetic and endoenergetic reactions, nuclear binding energy.
11. Energy of alpha decay, energy of beta decay, gamma deexcitation in nuclear reactions.
12. Decay schemes.

Outline (exercises):

1. Description and taxonomy of nuclear reactions.
2. Activity and amount of radionuclide.
3. Kinetics of simple radioactive decay.
4. Kinetics of decay of the system of independent radionuclides.
5. Kinetics of transformations in radioactive chains.
6. Radioactive equilibria.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge: The basic knowledge of the properties of matter and of chemical and physicochemical phenomena originating from or affected by atomic nucleus and its transformations.

Skills: The ability to perform basic nuclear-transformations related calculations.

Competencies: The ability to assess relevance, significance, and future development of radiological situations.

Teaching and Learning:

Prerequisites: The course will be understood by students who master basic knowledge of physics, chemistry and mathematics at the undergraduate level.

Lectures: Academic course - weekly lectures spread over the whole semester.

Exercises: Academic course - weekly computational exercises spread over the whole semester. No laboratory exercises.

Distance learning: Elective additional reading / learning.