Consider the following hypothetical nuclear breakdown:
Fermium-258 (Fm-258) loses three alpha particles and two neutrons.
What is the new element that is formed (in terms of chemical symbol, atomic number and atomic mass)?
I'm not sure how to express this in equation form. Please help?
I know what alpha and neutrons are.
It is difficult to write the subscripts and superscripts on this board so here is the way I will do it.
20X50. 20 is the atomic number, X is the element, and 50 is the mass number. With that in mind here is how the Fm looks.
100Fm258 ==> 3 2He4 + 2 on1 + 94X244
The subscripts (numbers on the left) and superscripts (numbers on the right) add up on both sides; i.e., 100 = (3*2) + (2*0) + 1*94). Same thing for superscripts [258 = (3*4) + (2*1) + 1*244)]. To identify what element X is look on the periodic table for element # (atomic number) of 94. I believe that's Pu which would be written as 94Pu244.
To express the nuclear breakdown in equation form, we start with the initial isotope (Fermium-258) and show the particles emitted or gained:
Fm-258 -> ? + 3α particles + 2neutrons
Now, let's consider how to determine the new element formed.
To identify the element, we need to determine its atomic number. The atomic number is essentially the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom. Since the initial isotope is Fermium-258 (Fm-258), we know that it has 100 protons because Fermium (Fm) has atomic number 100.
Next, we need to determine the atomic mass of the new element. The atomic mass is the sum of the number of protons and neutrons in an atom. Fermium-258 (Fm-258) will lose 3 alpha particles (each containing 2 protons and 2 neutrons), which means it loses a total of 6 protons and 6 neutrons. Additionally, it loses 2 neutrons.
So, the new atomic number can be calculated as follows:
100 (initial atomic number) - 6 (protons from the 3 alpha particles) = 94.
The total mass from the initial isotope will be:
258 (initial atomic mass) - 6 (protons) - 8 (neutrons) = 244.
Therefore, the new element formed (in terms of chemical symbol, atomic number, and atomic mass) would be Plutonium-244 (Pu-244), with an atomic number of 94 and an atomic mass of 244.