Which change will always take place in nuclear fusion?
A. The total charge will be less than before the fusion took place.
B. A nucleus with a smaller mass than any of the reactants will be produced.
C. A nucleus with a greater mass than any of the reactants will be produced.
D. The total charge will be greater than before the fusion took place.
D. The total charge will be greater than before the fusion took place.
The correct answer is D. The total charge will be greater than before the fusion took place.
In nuclear fusion, two or more atomic nuclei combine to form a single, more massive nucleus. During this process, some mass is converted into energy according to Einstein’s mass-energy equivalence principle (E = mc²). Since mass is being converted into energy, the total mass of the products is less than the total mass of the reactants.
However, the total charge of the reactants must be equal to the total charge of the products, as charge is conserved in nuclear reactions. Therefore, the total charge will be greater than before the fusion took place, as the number of protons in the resulting nucleus will be greater than the number of protons in the original nuclei.
To determine the correct option, let's analyze the process of nuclear fusion and the conservation laws associated with it.
Nuclear fusion involves the combination of two atomic nuclei to form a new nucleus. In this process, the total mass and the total charge of the reactants (the two atomic nuclei) must be conserved.
A. The total charge will be less than before the fusion took place:
This option violates the law of conservation of charge because the total charge of the system must remain the same before and after fusion.
B. A nucleus with a smaller mass than any of the reactants will be produced:
This option is not necessarily true since the mass of the resulting nucleus depends on the specific reactants involved in the fusion reaction. It may have a smaller, larger, or equal mass compared to the reactants.
C. A nucleus with a greater mass than any of the reactants will be produced:
This option aligns with the conservation of mass since the total mass of the system is conserved in a nuclear fusion reaction. When two heavier atomic nuclei combine, the resulting nucleus is generally heavier.
D. The total charge will be greater than before the fusion took place:
This option violates the conservation of charge because the total charge remains constant in a nuclear fusion reaction.
Therefore, the correct option is C. A nucleus with a greater mass than any of the reactants will be produced.