During early research in nuclear energy, why were scientists surprised that the products from splitting a uranium nucleus had less mass than the reactants? They expected that the large release of energy would cause an increase in mass. Up to that time, only chemical changes were known to form less mass than they started with. All known changes always started and ended with the same amount of mass. Other known nuclear changes resulted in the same mass of products as reactants.

During early research in nuclear energy, why were scientists surprised that the products from splitting a uranium nucleus had less mass than the reactants? They expected that the large release of energy would cause an increase in mass. Up to that time, only chemical changes were known to form less mass than they started with. All known changes always started and ended with the same amount of mass. Other known nuclear changes resulted in the same mass of products as reactants.

College Physics

10th Edition

ISBN:9781285737027

Author:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille

Publisher:Raymond A. Serway, Chris Vuille

Chapter30: Nuclear Energy And Elementary Particles

Section: Chapter Questions

Problem 45AP

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Similar questions

(a) Calculate the energy released in the a decay of 238U . (b) What fraction of the mass of a single 238U is destroyed in the decay? The mass of 234Th is 234.043593 u. (c) Although the fractional mass loss is large for a single nucleus, it is difficult to observe for an entire macroscopic sample of uranium. Why is this?
(a) Calculate the energy released in the a decay of 238U. (b) What fraction of the mass at a single 238U is destroyed in the decay? The mass of 234Th is 234.043593 u. (c) Although the fractional mass loss is laws for a single nucleus, it is difficult to observe for an entire macroscopic sample of uranium. Why is this?
(a) Calculate the energy released in the neutroninduced fission reaction n+239Pu96Sr+140Ba+4n, given m(96Sr)=95.921750u and m(140Ba)=139.910581u. (b) Confirm that the total number of nucleons and total charge are conserved in this reaction.
(a) Write the decay equation for the decay of 235U. (b) What energy is released in this decay? The mass of the daughter nuclide is 231.036298 u. (c) Assuming the residual nucleus is formed in its ground state, how much energy goes to the particle?