SN.3 · Reaction energies, activity and decay balances

One atomic mass unit is 931.5 MeV, so a reaction energy is a small difference between large masses.

Prerequisites: 8, 25, 21.

• Compute reaction energy from complete atomic or nuclear mass bookkeeping
• Calculate activity from half-life and a simple decay-chain balance
• Compare fission and fusion binding changes with charge and nucleon conservation

The reaction energy is Q=(m_initial−m_final)c²; Q>0 releases kinetic energy. Track every species, and keep the mass convention consistent: tabulated atomic masses include electrons. For β− decay and for α decay with a neutral helium product, atomic electron counts balance directly; β+ or electron capture needs explicit electron-mass terms. Use 1 u=931.5 MeV/c².

Alpha decay of ²³⁸U with atomic masses 238.0508 u → 234.0436 u + 4.0026 u gives Δm=0.0046 u and Q≈4.28 MeV. Fusion D+T with 2.0141+3.0161−4.0026−1.0087=0.0189 u gives Q≈17.6 MeV. A reaction also requires charge and nucleon-number balance: ¹⁴N+α→¹⁷O+p balances 7+2=9 and 14+4=18.

Activity is A=λN with decay constant λ=ln2/T½; one becquerel is one decay per second. For T½=2 h and N=6×10¹², A=6×10¹²×ln2/7200≈5.8×10⁸ Bq. After three half-lives both N and A fall by 1/8. Equal activities do not imply equal atom counts: shorter half-life at fixed N gives larger A.

In a chain A→B→C with a long-lived parent (λ_A≪λ_B), B accumulates until its activity approaches the parent activity (secular equilibrium); write the balance dN_B/dt=λ_A N_A−λ_B N_B. The binding-energy-per-nucleon curve peaks near iron, so heavy fission (about 7.6 to 8.5 MeV per nucleon over roughly 240 nucleons, of order 200 MeV) and light fusion both release energy; compare total binding, not nucleon counts.

Activity is $A=\lambda N$, with $\lambda=\ln2/T_{1/2}$. For N = $6.0\times10^{12}$ and half-life 2 hours, convert time before calculating.

A decay chain requires both production and loss terms: $\dot N_B=\lambda_AN_A-\lambda_BN_B$. Equal activities do not imply equal populations. Atomic-mass beta-plus Q values require subtracting $2m_ec^2$.