Answer to Question #166387 in Atomic and Nuclear Physics for mar

Question

Identify the mystery nucleus (represented by the question mark) in the following

reaction:

1 0 n + 235 92 U 144 56 Ba + ? + 2 1 0 n

Answer 1

The reaction is given as : ₀n¹ + ₉₂U²³⁵ = ₅₆Ba¹⁴⁴ + ? + 2 ₀n¹

Solution :

let the mystery nucleus(?) be _ZX^A ; where Z is the atomic number and A is the mass number of the mystery nucleus

Now to identify the mystery nucleus(?) we have to equate both sum of the atomic number and the mass number for both sides of the given reaction

now equating sum of atomic number for both sides

0 + 92 = 56 + Z + 0

or, Z = 36

now equating sum of mass number for both sides

1 + 235 = 144 + A + 2

or, A = 90

then we can write the mystery nucleus as ₃₆X⁹⁰

now from the periodic table we know that the element having the atomic number 36 is known as Krypton

Answer :

The mystery nucleus(?) in the given reaction is given as ₃₆Kr⁹⁰