238U + 2H --> ________+ 2 1n
92 1 0
I don't know the answer that goes in the blank or how to figure it out. Please help me. Thanks
The spacing on the board makes problems like this difficult to answer. Here is what I will do. The atomic number if will write first. Then I will write the symbol for the element followed by the atomic mass. It should be done like this but it's very hard to do; therefore, we'll take the easy road.
92238U
92U238 + 1H2 ==> ? + 2 0n1
The idea here is that atomic numbers of reactants must add up with the atomic numbers of the products. Also, mass of the reactants must add to mass of products.
So on the left we have 92 + 1 = 93. On the right we have 2*0 = 0; therefore, the atomic number for the blank must be 93. We can ot write 93X (we don't know X yet). The for the mass, we have on the left 238+2 = 240. On the right we have 2*1= 2 so the mass X must be 238 (to make 240 on the right).
Now we can look at the periodic table and see that elemenet #93 is Np, the complete equation now looks like this.
92U238 + 1H2 ==>93Np238 + 2 0n1.