Lesson Plan: Nuclear Radius
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to calculate the radii of atomic nuclei from their atomic numbers.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- recall that the radius of a proton is approximately 1.2 fm,
- calculate the radius of a nucleus, , using the equation , where is proton radius and is the atomic number of the nucleus.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- atomic number,
- femtometers.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- any details of nuclear structure,
- any discussion of forces within a nucleus,
- any discussion of nuclear stability.
