Question

In 1930 the American physicist Ernest Lawrence designed the first cyclotron in Berkeley, California. In 1937 Lawrence bombarded a molybdenum target with deuterium ions, producing for the first time an element not found in nature. What was this element? Starting with molybdenum-96 as your reactant, write a nuclear equation to represent this process.

Short answer

The element produced by Ernest Lawrence in 1937 when bombarding a molybdenum target with deuterium ions was technetium-98. The nuclear equation representing this process is: \[_{42}^{96}\textrm{Mo} + _1^2\textrm{H} \rightarrow _{43}^{98}\textrm{Tc}\]

Step-by-step solution

Gather information about molybdenum and deuterium atoms

Molybdenum (Mo) is a chemical element with atomic number 42, and deuterium is a stable isotope of hydrogen with one proton and one neutron. It is often represented as \(_1^2\)H or D. In this process, we start with molybdenum-96, which has an atomic number of 42 and a mass number of 96.

Determine the element produced

In this process, a molybdenum-96 nucleus is bombarded by a deuterium atom, effectively adding a proton and a neutron to the molybdenum nucleus. This produces an element with an atomic number of 42 + 1 = 43 and a mass number of 96 + 2 = 98. The element with an atomic number of 43 is technetium (Tc). Thus, the element produced in this reaction is technetium-98.

Write the nuclear equation

Now that we know the reactants and products, we can write the nuclear equation representing this process. The equation would be: \[_{42}^{96}\textrm{Mo} + _1^2\textrm{H} \rightarrow _{43}^{98}\textrm{Tc}\] This equation indicates that a molybdenum-96 nucleus, when bombarded by a deuterium atom, produces a technetium-98 nucleus.