One of the most worrisome waste products of a nuclear reactor is plutonium 239 (

Question

One of the most worrisome waste products of a nuclear reactor is plutonium 239 (239Pu). This nucleus is radioactive and decays by splitting into a helium-4 nucleus and a uranium-235 nucleus (4He + 235U), the latter of which is also radioactive and will itself decay some time later. The energy emitted in the plutonium decay is 8.40 ? 10-13 J and is entirely converted to kinetic energy of the helium and uranium nuclei. The mass of the helium nucleus is 6.68 ? 10-27 kg, while that of the uranium is 3.92 ? 10-25kg (note that the ratio of the masses is 4 to 235).

Explanation / Answer

V1 & V2 are velocity of He & U
m1V1=-m2V2

E= 0.5*m1*V1^2 +0.5*m2*V2^2

a) V1 =velocity of helium= 15.639x10^6 m/s
V2 = velocity of U = 264.111x10^3 m/sec


b) K.E. of He = 8.26x10-13 J
K.E of U = 0.1367x10^-13 J

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