A beam of low-energy neutrons is directed at a thin foil of nitrogen-14. Occasionally, a neutron is captured by a nitrogen nucleus, producing carbon-14 and another particle that leaves the foil.
714N+01n⟶614C+?
Use conservation principles to analyze this reaction.
(a) Identify the missing particle in the reaction above. Show how you used both mass number and atomic number to reach your conclusion.
(b) Verify that mass number and atomic number are conserved in the completed equation.
(c) Describe how the identities of the reactant and product nuclides illustrate the concept of isotopes.
(d) Carbon-14 is radioactive, whereas carbon-12 (the most common isotope) is stable. Propose one nuclear property that could account for this difference in stability, citing evidence from the reaction or general trends in nuclear physics.