Identify and write the symbol for each of the five nuclides in th...

Question

Identify and write the symbol for each of the five nuclides in the decay series shown in Problem.

Accepted Answer

Hey, everyone, we're given the number of neutrons and atomic number of the first four main nu glides of the uranium 2 38 radioactive decay series, write their symbols. So first, let's go ahead and write out our symbol for uranium 2 38 which is our first of our four main nukes. So we have uranium and our mass number is 2:38. And when we look at our periodic table, our atomic number is 92. Now let's go ahead and figure out our second main nu glide here. They provided us the number of neutrons and our atomic number. And we can use these two values to determine our mass number since our mass number is equal to the sum of the number of protons and the number of neutrons. And our atomic number is equal to the number of protons of the new glide. So starting with our second new slide, our a which is our mass number is going to be equal to 1 44 plus which gets us to a mass number of 34. Now let's go ahead and do the same for our 3rd and 4th new glide for a third one. Our mass number is going to be equal to 1 43 plus 91 which gets us to a mass number of 34. And lastly looking at our fourth new glide, We're going to add 142, which is our neutrons and we're going to add 92, which is our atomic number. This will get us to a mass number of 234. Now, let's go ahead and write out our symbols. So when we look at our periodic table, we find that thallium is the element with an atomic number of 90 for our second nu glide. And so we have thallium 234 For our third new Clyde. When we look at our periodic table, the element with an atomic number of 91 is protactinium with a symbol of P A. So this will have a mass number of 234 and an atomic number of 91. And for our fourth new Clyde, we have an atomic number of 92 which gives us uranium And we have a mass number of 2:34. Now, when we look at our answer choices, it looks like answer choice. A is going to be our final answer for B B is not going to be our answer since we have uranium 1 to thallium, 1 44 to protactinium 1 43 to uranium 1 42. So all of our mass numbers here are incorrect. Next for C we have uranium 2 38 to thallium 2 to pro protect tini 2 35 to uranium 2 34. This one is also incorrect because our mass numbers are incorrect. And lastly looking at D we have uranium 2 38 uranium 34 uranium 2 34 and uranium 2 34. This is going to be incorrect because our elements are incorrect for our new glides. So I hope this made sense and let us know if you have any questions.

Identify and write the symbol for each of the five nuclides in the decay series shown in Problem.

Key Concepts

Nuclides

Decay Series

Nuclear Symbols

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