Chapter 21: Problem 55
What is the most common fissionable isotope in a commercial nuclear power reactor?
Chapter 21: Problem 55
What is the most common fissionable isotope in a commercial nuclear power reactor?
All the tools & learning materials you need for study success - in one app.
Get started for freeA wooden artifact from a Chinese temple has a \({ }^{14} \mathrm{C}\) activity of 38.0 counts per minute as compared with an activity of 58.2 counts per minute for a standard of zero age. From the halflife for \({ }^{14} \mathrm{C}\) decay, \(5715 \mathrm{yr}\), determine the age of the artifact.
It has been suggested that strontium-90 (generated by nuclear testing) deposited in the hot desert will undergo radioactive decay more rapidly because it will be exposed to much higher average temperatures. (a) Is this a reasonable suggestion? (b) Does the process of radioactive decay have an activation energy, like the Arrhenius behavior of many chemical reactions (Section 14.5\() ?\) Discuss.
Tests on human subjects in Boston in 1965 and \(1966,\) following the era of atomic bomb testing, revealed average quantities of about \(2 \mathrm{pCi}\) of plutonium radioactivity in the average person. How many disintegrations per second does this level of activity imply? If each alpha particle deposits \(8 \times 10^{-13} \mathrm{~J}\) of energy and if the average person weighs \(75 \mathrm{~kg}\), calculate the number of rads and rems of radiation in 1 yr from such a level of plutonium.
Complete and balance the following nuclear equations by supplying the missing particle: (a) \({ }_{7}^{14} \mathrm{~N}+{ }_{2}^{4} \mathrm{He} \longrightarrow ?+{ }_{1}^{1} \mathrm{H}\) (b) \({ }_{19}^{40} \mathrm{~K}+{ }_{-1}^{0} \mathrm{e}\) (orbital electron) \(\longrightarrow\) (c) ? \(+{ }_{2}^{4} \mathrm{He} \longrightarrow{ }_{14}^{30} \mathrm{Si}+{ }_{1}^{1} \mathrm{H}\) (d) \({ }_{26}^{58} \mathrm{Fe}+2{ }_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n} \longrightarrow{ }_{27}^{60} \mathrm{Co}+?\) (e) \({ }_{92}^{235} \mathrm{U}+{ }_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n} \longrightarrow{ }_{54}^{135} \mathrm{Xe}+2{ }_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n}+?\)
A \(25.0-\mathrm{mL}\) sample of \(0.050 \mathrm{M}\) barium nitrate solution was mixed with \(25.0 \mathrm{~mL}\) of \(0.050 \mathrm{M}\) sodium sulfate solution labeled with radioactive sulfur-35. The activity of the initial sodium sulfate solution was \(1.22 \times 10^{6} \mathrm{~Bq} / \mathrm{mL}\). After the resultant precipitate was removed by filtration, the remaining filtrate was found to have an activity of \(250 \mathrm{~Bq} / \mathrm{mL}\). (a) Write a balanced chemical equation for the reaction that occurred. (b) Calculate the \(K_{s p}\) for the precipitate under the conditions of the experiment.
What do you think about this solution?
We value your feedback to improve our textbook solutions.