Question

Consider the fission of by fast neutrons. In one fission event, no neutrons are emitted and the final end products, after the beta decay of the primary fragments, are and. Calculate Q for this fission process. The relevant atomic and particle masses are

m =238.05079 u

m =139.90543 u

m = 98.90594 u

Answer 1

In the fission of, 10 β⁻ particles decay from the parent nucleus. The nuclear reaction can be written as:

It is given that:

Mass of a nucleusm₁ = 238.05079 u

Mass of a nucleus m₂ = 139.90543 u

Mass of a nucleus, m₃ = 98.90594 u

Mass of a neutronm₄ = 1.008665 u

Q-value of the above equation,

Where,

m’ = Represents the corresponding atomic masses of the nuclei

= m₁ − 92m_e

= m₂ − 58m_e

= m₃ − 44m_e

= m₄

Hence, the Q-value of the fission process is 231.007 MeV.