Chapter 21: Problem 21
Discuss factors that lead to nuclear decay.
Chapter 21: Problem 21
Discuss factors that lead to nuclear decay.
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Get started for freeWhy is strontium-90 a particularly dangerous isotope for humans?
What makes water particularly suitable for use as moderator in a nuclear reactor?
Explain why achievement of nuclear fusion in the laboratory requires a temperature of about 100 million degrees Celsius, which is much higher than that in the interior of the sun (15 million degrees Celsius).
(a) Calculate the energy released when a \({ }^{238} \mathrm{U}\) isotope decays to \({ }^{234} \mathrm{Th} .\) The atomic masses are given by: \(^{238} \mathrm{U}: 238.0508 \mathrm{amu} ;{ }^{234} \mathrm{Th}: 234.0436 \mathrm{amu} ;{ }^{4} \mathrm{He}\) 4.0026 amu. (b) The energy released in (a) is transformed into the kinetic energy of the recoiling \({ }^{234} \mathrm{Th}\) nucleus and the \(\alpha\) particle. Which of the two will move away faster? Explain.
Strontium- 90 is one of the products of the fission of uranium- \(235 .\) This strontium isotope is radioactive, with a half-life of 28.1 yr. Calculate how long (in yr) it will take for \(1.00 \mathrm{~g}\) of the isotope to be reduced to \(0.200 \mathrm{~g}\) by decay.
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