Do nuclear reactions create new elements?

Answer 1

Nuclear reactions change the number of protons in the nucleus of an atom, except in the case of beta decay, where it is not the number of protons in the atom that changes, but the number of electrons.

Below are some example nuclear reactions that demonstrate the changes in the atom due to nuclear decay:

#""_92^235U -> ""_90^231Th + ""_2^4α#
#""_92^235U -> ""_93^235Np + ""_0^-1β#
#""_92^235U -> ""_92^235U + ""_0^0γ#

Nuclear reactions occur mainly within fission reactors, but can occur naturally, such as the beta decay of carbon-14 into nitrogen-14.

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Answer 2

Sebastian Acosta

Yes, nuclear reactions can create new elements through processes such as nuclear fusion and nuclear fission. In nuclear fusion, lighter elements combine to form heavier elements, while in nuclear fission, heavier elements split into lighter elements. These processes can lead to the creation of new elements that do not naturally occur on Earth.

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Answer from HIX Tutor

When evaluating a one-sided limit, you need to be careful when a quantity is approaching zero since its sign is different depending on which way it is approaching zero from. Let us look at some examples.