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Which of the following selections completes the following nuclear reaction?

Which of the following selections completes the following nuclear reaction?-example-1
User MaxSem
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1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

n (a neutron)

Step-by-step explanation:

For a chemical element:

- The lower subscript indicates the atomic number (the number of protons)

- The upper subscript indicates the mass number (the sum of protons and neutrons in the nucleus)

In the reaction described in the problem, we see that a gamma photon hits a nucleus of Calcium-40, which has

Z = 20 (20 protons)

A = 40 (40 protons+neutrons)

Which means that the number of neutrons is n = A - Z = 40 - 20 = 20

After the reaction, we have a nucleus of Calcium-39, which has

Z = 20 (20 protons)

A = 39 (39 protons+neutrons)

Which means that the number of neutrons is n = A - Z = 40 - 39 = 19

So, the nucleus has lost 1 neutron, which is the particle missing in the reaction.

User Tanysha
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