Curium-248 was bombarded, yielding antimony-116 and cesium-160. What was the bombarding nucleus?
2007-02-13 20:36:41 · 2 answers · asked by chelsea_cruz20 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Add up the mass numbers of the products (276), and, using a periodic table, work out the sum of the proton numbers (atomic numbers) of antimony and caesium as well. That will tell you what was slammed into the curium.
2007-02-13 20:41:08 · answer #1 · answered by Gervald F 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The number of nucleons originally present must have been 116+160 = 276. The number of protons must have been 51+55 = 106. The curium accounted for 96 protons, and 248 nucleons, leaving 10 protons and 28 nucleons for the bombarding nucleus. But the problem statement is implausible, because although neon 28 exists, it is radioactive with a half-life of 19 milliseconds, so would be quite unsuitable as a bombarding nucleus. Perhaps at least one of the fission products found was the result of beta decay of a short-lived precursor.
2007-02-14 04:49:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋