Nuclear reactions and the Alchemists’ Dream
After radioactive decay the resulting nucleus (daughter) can have different charge from the original (parent) nucleus
number of protons --> charge --> the nature of the atom
atoms can thus change in other elements through nuclear reactions but not through chemical reactions!
What kind of reactions are possible?
Conservation laws that must must be obeyed: mass-energy, linear momentum, angular momentum, charge, nucleon number …….
Notations of nucleons -->
Superscript: nr.of nucleons
Subscript: nr. of elementary charge
Example for nuclear reactions:
note conservation of nucleon
Total energy (including the rest-mass energy) and total momentum should also conserve!