Saturday, March 12, 2011

A highly radioactive component of the waste from a nuclear reactor?

Nedrow

1. A highly radioactive component of the wast from a nuclear reactor is a plutonium isotope, Pu-239. How myriad protons are there in an scintilla in on this variety? how many neutrons?2. Explain how the two isotopes knowledgeable about rubidium, Rb-85 added to Rb-87, distinct. Write nuclear symbols relating to these isotopes.



New Straitsville

Use the periodic table of elements, what number is Pu - Plutonium? This is the atomic number = number of Protons in the nucleus. All Plutonium has the same number of protons, it is the total number of Neutrons and Protons which determines the isotope. The larger number in the periodic table is the atomic mass which takes into account the abundance of each isotope, this may result in a fraction. An isotope is always a whole number as this is the total of the number of neutrons and protons together. Subtract the number of protons from the total and what you have left is the number of neutrons. The links will give you a periodic table, the rest is simple math. Good Luck! The table of nuclides has good information about isotopes, have fun!


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