Africa Virtual University - AVU

• Online
• Blended mode online and face to face
• Face-to-face

We need to study nuclear physics because it is fundamental to understanding our lives and the physical world around us. We are all made from the products of exploding stars. Processes like the creation of chemical elements production of energy in stars and on Earth are understood in nuclear studies.

Building matter with quarks and leptons, neutrons, protons, deuterons, Nuclei and decay of matter as in emission of alpha, beta, gamma particles and fission are all nuclear phenomena.

Nuclear processes are used all around us and there are key applications in many aspects of our lives:

• Radioactivity in medicine, industry and research
• Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (cancer)
• Security (e.g. mine detection),
• Fundamental studies such as neutrino properties (double beta decay)

2. Prerequisite or Knowledge

In order to study this module you need to complete the Quantum Mechanics module of the AVU Teachers’ Training Module.

3. General objective(s)

After completing the module you should be able to

• Understand the basic properties of nuclei and the atomic nucleus
• Describe radioactivity and related phenomena
• Explain the various interactions of nuclear radiation with matter
• Understand nuclear interactions and elementary particles involved in the interactions

4. Time

This module can be completed in 120hrs.

5. Materials

The following list identifies and describes the equipment necessary for all of theactivities in this module. The quantities listed are required for each group.

1. Computer: - A personal computer with word processing and spreadsheet software

2. PCNudat (Free software): - Nuclear database.