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Ch.20 - Nuclear Chemistry
Chapter 20, Problem 20.31d

Complete and balance the following nuclear equations.
(d) <ISOTOPE CHEM REACTION>

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Key Concepts

Here are the essential concepts you must grasp in order to answer the question correctly.

Nuclear Reactions

Nuclear reactions involve changes in an atom's nucleus and can result in the transformation of one element into another. These reactions include processes such as alpha decay, beta decay, and nuclear fission or fusion. Understanding the type of nuclear reaction is crucial for predicting the products and balancing the equations.
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Nuclear Binding Energy

Balancing Nuclear Equations

Balancing nuclear equations requires ensuring that both the mass number and atomic number are conserved during the reaction. This means that the sum of the mass numbers and the sum of the atomic numbers on the reactant side must equal those on the product side. This principle is essential for accurately representing the transformation of isotopes.
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Isotopes

Isotopes are variants of a particular chemical element that have the same number of protons but different numbers of neutrons, resulting in different mass numbers. Understanding isotopes is important in nuclear chemistry as they can undergo different types of decay and reactions, influencing the products formed in nuclear equations.
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Related Practice
Textbook Question
Calculate the binding energy a uranium-235 nucleus in units of MeV/nucleon. The mass of an 235U atom is 235.043 929, the mass of a proton is 1.007 28, the mass of a neutron is 1.008 67, and the mass of an electron is 5.486 x 10^-4. (1 MeV = 1.60 x 10^-13 J) (a) 2.84 MeV/nucleon (b) 1.70 x 10^3 MeV/nucleon (c) 11.3 MeV/nucleon (d) 7.62 MeV/nucleon
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Textbook Question
Identify the true statement about nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons. (a) Nuclear power plants and nuclear weapons both use uranium enriched to about 90% U-235. (b) Nuclear power plants emit large amounts of CO2 just like coal burning power plants. (c) The United States produces less than 1% of its electrical power from nuclear energy. (d) A nuclear weapon explodes when two pieces of fission-able uranium-235 are pushed together to reach a critical mass.
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Textbook Question
How much energy in kJ/mol is released by the fission of uranium-235 to form barium-140 and krypton-93? The atomic masses are (a) 6.59 x 10^9 kJ/mol (b) 1.66 x 10^10 kJ/mol (c) 1.98 x 10^11 kJ/mol (d) 1.66 x 10^16 kJ/mol
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Textbook Question

Write balanced nuclear equations for the following processes.

(d) Positron emission of 165Ta

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Textbook Question
Isotope A decays to isotope E through the following series of steps, in which the products of the individual decay events are themselves radioactive and undergo further decay until a stable nucleus is ultimately reached. Two kinds of processes are represented, one by the shorter arrows pointing right and the other by the longer arrows pointing left. (b) Identify and write the symbol for each isotope in the series:

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Textbook Question
Positron emission and electron capture both give a product nucleus whose atomic number is 1 less than the starting nucleus. Explain.
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