Question

a typical pacemaker may contain 0.5 g of 238puo2 as a source of energy. considering that all alpha particles are fully absorbed in the mass of plutonium oxide, what energy is absorbed during one second in the puo2 pellet if 72% of emitted alpha particles have energy of 5.49 mev and 28% particles carry energy of 5.45 mev

Answer 1

The energy absorbed during one second in the PuO2 pellet is 5.49008 MeV.

Step-by-step explanation:

The energy absorbed during one second in the PuO2 pellet can be calculated by considering the energy carried by the emitted alpha particles and their respective probabilities.

Let's first calculate the energy absorbed by alpha particles with an energy of 5.49 MeV:

Energy absorbed by alpha particles with 5.49 MeV = (0.72) * (5.49 MeV)

= 3.96408 MeV

Similarly, we can calculate the energy absorbed by alpha particles with an energy of 5.45 MeV:

Energy absorbed by alpha particles with 5.45 MeV = (0.28) * (5.45 MeV)

= 1.526 MeV

Now, we can find the total energy absorbed by summing up the energies absorbed by both types of alpha particles:

Total energy absorbed = 3.96408 MeV + 1.526 MeV

= 5.49008 MeV