Hey i was wonderingg for my science homework i don't understand how to do this problem. It says:
Plutonium 239 can be produced by bombarding uranium 238 with alpha particles. How many neutrons will be produced as a product of each reaction. write out the nuclear equation for this reaction to support your choice.
protons (+ charges or atomic number) must balance. Total mass number must balance.
92U238 + 2He4 ==> xxPuyy
92 + 2 = xx and 238 + 4 = yy
I don't understand this explanation and for my anser i got 5 neutrons so idk what went on there.
Think of xxPuyy as an intermediate.
92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94X242.
Since 94 on the periodic table tell us element #94 is Pu, we can write 94Pu242.
but the problem tells us the Pu239 can be produced this way. So we take 94Pu242 (as the intermediate) and let it emit neutrons.
94Pu242 ==> 94Pu239 + oN<sup1
Now, how many of the neutrons does it take to make 239 + ?? add up to 242. It isn't 5. If you don't see what it isn't 5, please post your work and I can tell what you are doing wrong.
You could have done this in one step as follows:
92U238 + 2He4 ==>94Pu239 + ??oN1
oN<sup1 should have been written
oN1
Well, it seems like you've stumbled upon a puzzling science problem. Let me try to help you out with a touch of humor!
So, you're trying to figure out how many neutrons are produced in this Plutonium 239 making reaction. But be careful, neutrons can be quite elusive! They don't just pop out of thin air.
Now, let's break it down. We have Uranium 238 colliding with Alpha particles (Helium 4). In the process, we end up with an intermediate element, known as "xxPuyy." Sounds like a hip new rapper, doesn't it? Moving on...
We need to convert 92U238 into Pu239, so we have to let our intermediate, 94Pu242, do some radioactive gymnastics. It emits some neutrons (represented by "oN1"), giving us 94Pu239.
But wait, what's the missing piece, the magical number that makes everything add up? It's not 5! I repeat, it's not 5! So, if you thought you had 5 neutrons in there, something went a bit astray.
To get the correct answer, let's simplify our equation: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94Pu239 + ??oN1. Now, we just need to solve for the unknown number of neutrons.
Keep crunching those numbers and don't hesitate to post your work. I'll be here to guide you through the wild world of science, or throw in a joke or two to keep the journey entertaining!
To understand how many neutrons are produced in the reaction, let's go through the explanation step-by-step:
1. The initial reaction is:
92U238 + 2He4 ==> xxPuyy
The numbers 92 and 2 represent the atomic numbers of uranium (protons) and helium (alpha particles), respectively. The numbers 238 and 4 represent the mass numbers (total number of protons and neutrons) of uranium and helium, respectively.
2. The explanation states that we can consider xxPuyy as an intermediate. This means that after this reaction occurs, we have an intermediate product before reaching the final product, which is plutonium.
3. The intermediate product is:
92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94X242
Here, the atomic number of the intermediate product is 94, which corresponds to element #94 on the periodic table, which is plutonium (Pu). The mass number is 242.
4. However, the problem asks for plutonium-239 (Pu239) to be produced. So, to convert the intermediate product to plutonium-239, it emits neutrons.
94Pu242 ==> 94Pu239 + oN1
In this step, the intermediate product plutonium-242 (94Pu242) emits a neutron (oN1) to become plutonium-239 (94Pu239).
5. Now, the final nuclear equation becomes:
92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94Pu239 + oN1
To answer your question about the number of neutrons produced, the correct answer is not 5. Instead, it should be 1 neutron, as indicated by oN1.
I hope this clears up any confusion you had about the problem. Let me know if you have any further questions!
To understand how many neutrons will be produced as a product of this reaction, we need to balance the atomic and mass numbers in the nuclear equation.
Let's break down the explanation step by step:
1. The given equation is: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> xxPuyy
2. The first step is to balance the protons (atomic number). Uranium has an atomic number of 92, and helium has an atomic number of 2. Since there are no protons on the right side of the equation yet, we can write: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> xxPuyy
3. The next step is to balance the mass numbers. Uranium-238 has a mass number of 238, and helium-4 has a mass number of 4. The sum of the mass numbers on the left side should equal the sum of the mass numbers on the right side. So we have: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> xxPuyy
4. From the information given, we know that plutonium-239 can be produced through this reaction. So we can take the intermediate product, xxPuyy, and write it as 94Pu242. Here's the updated equation: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94Pu242
5. Now, to get to plutonium-239, we need the intermediate 94Pu242 to emit neutrons. The emission of a neutron (N) decreases the mass number by 1 and doesn't affect the atomic number. So we can write the neutron as: 94Pu242 ==> 94Pu239 + 1N1
6. Since we are looking for the number of neutrons produced, we can see that it takes 3 neutrons to go from 94 to 239 (242 - 239 = 3). Thus, the equation becomes: 92U238 + 2He4 ==> 94Pu239 + 3N1
Based on this explanation, the correct answer is that 3 neutrons will be produced as a product of each reaction.