Gizmos Student Exploration| Nuclear Reactions Answer Key [100% correct] 100% Correct Verified Answers

Gizmos Student Exploration| Nuclear Reactions Answer Key [100% correct] 100% Correct Verified Answers

2019

Student Exploration: Nuclear Reactions

[Note to teachers and students: This Gizmo was designed as a follow-up to the Nuclear Decay

Gizmo. We recommend doing that activity before trying this one.

Vocabulary: chain reaction, CNO cycle, catalyst, deuterium, electron volt, fission, fusion,

isotope, nuclear reaction, positron, positron emission, proton-proton chain

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

The chart to the right gives the isotope

name, element name, number of protons, and

number of neutrons of three isotopes.

1. What do you notice about the isotope

number and the sum of protons and

neutrons?

They all vary in numbers

2. The element symbol for uranium-238 is . This means U-238 has a total mass of 238

and contains 92 protons. Write the element symbols for the isotopes in the table:

Hydrogen-1 1/1 H Carbon-12 12/6 C Uranium-235 235/92 U

Gizmo Warm-up

The Nuclear Reactions Gizmo simulates a particle accelerator.

Particle accelerators speed up atoms to very high velocities, then

crash the atoms together with enough energy to cause changes called

nuclear reactions. There are three particle beams available in this

Gizmo, protons, neutrons, and helium-3 nuclei.

1. Click Fire Proton to engage the first particle beam.

What happens? A positron flew out

2. Colliding particles don’t always react. Click Reset, and then click Fire neutron.

A. Does a reaction occur? no

B. Explain: the fire neutron flew through

Isotope Protons Neutrons

Hydrogen-1 1 0

Carbon-12 6 6

Uranium-235 92 143

This study source was downloaded by 100000829216747 from cnn.com on 05-17-2026 04:05:04 GMT -05:00

https://www.cnn.com/file/97359167/Nuclear-Reactions-Gizmodocx/

2019

Activity A:

Proton-proton

chain

Get the Gizmo ready:

ï‚· Click Reset.

ï‚· Be sure Proton-proton is selected in the Reaction

menu.

Introduction: All stars turn hydrogen into helium in a process called nuclear fusion. Stars

perform this process in different ways. In stars like our sun, the proton-proton chain is used.

This reaction requires temperatures greater than 4,000,000 K to occur.

Question: How does the process of fusion turn hydrogen into helium in stars?

1. Observe: Click Fire proton and observe. What happens after the proton merges into the

nucleus? A gamma is released

This is a form of nuclear decay called positron emission. During positron emission, a

proton decays into a neutron. In this process, it emits a positron, which is a nearly massless

antimatter particle with a positive charge.

2. Observe: Click Reset and click Fire proton. Observe what happens. Many subatomic

particles appear frequently in nuclear reactions. Their element symbols are given below:

(Neutrinos are also produced but are beyond the scope of this Gizmo.)

Click Reset and click Fire proton. Turn on the Write equation checkbox. Based on what

you have observed, write in the equation for this reaction in the Gizmo and below.

1/0 n to 0/1 e+ plus 1/1 H

A. Turn on Show equation. Was your predicted equation correct? yes

Correct your equation if necessary. The resulting H-2 isotope is called deuterium.

B. Emitted energy is reported in megaelectron volts (MeV), where one MeV is equal to

one million electron volts. How much energy is emitted in this reaction? 1.44 MeV

(Activity A continued on next page)

Neutron Positron Electron Proton

This study source was downloaded by 100000829216747 from cnn.com on 05-17-2026 04:05:04 GMT -05:00

https://www.cnn.com/file/97359167/Nuclear-Reactions-Gizmodocx/

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