The naturally occurring radioactive decay series that begins with 23592U stops with formation of the stable 20782Pb nucleus. The decays proceed through a series of alpha-particle and beta-particle emissions. A.How many of alpha-particle emissions are involved in this series?B. How many of beta-particle emissions are involved in this series?

There are 7 alpha-particle emissions and 4 beta-particle emissions involved in this series

Explanation:

Alpha Decay: In this process, a heavier nuclei decays into lighter nuclei by releasing alpha particle. The mass number is reduced by 4 units and atomic number is reduced by 2 units.

Beta Decay : It is a type of decay process, in which a proton gets converted to neutron and an electron. This is also known as -decay. In this the mass number remains same but the atomic number is increased by 1.

In radioactive decay the sum of atomic number or mass number of reactants must be equal to the sum of atomic number or mass number of products .

Thus for mass number : 235 = 207+4X

4X= 28

X = 7

Thus for atomic number : 92 = 82+2X-Y

2X- Y = 10

2(7) - Y= 10

14-10 = Y

Y= 4

Thus there are 7 alpha-particle emissions and 4 beta-particle emissions involved in this series

a. energy is absorbed in the reaction.

if in a given reaction the energy of products is greater than the energy of reactants it means that reaction is endothermic and during the reaction, the energy is absorbed by reactants. in an endothermic reaction, the products have more stored chemical energy than the reactants. and in this reaction the reactants are more stable than products before the compounds with less energy are always more stable.