In: Physics
A hollow cube of copper that is 23.36cm on a side and 2.4mm
thick is placed next to a small solid ball of plutonium-239. Its so
small that it does not explode (criticallity), having a mass of
only 23.78g. It is slightly warm to the touch (due to nuclear
decay...alpha particles heat the skin).
(a) How many copper atoms are there making up the cube?
(b) What is the mass of the copper?
(c) What is diameter of the ball of plutonium?
(d) Look up the meanlife of plutonium-239. Compute the number of
plutonium atoms in that ball that decay per second by dividing the
total number of atoms by the meanlife.
(a) atoms
(b) Kg
(c) m
(d) decays