Polonium has a mass number of 212 and an atomic number of 84. In a balanced nuclear reaction, polonium releases an alpha particle to produce lead. Which option is the atomic number of lead?(1 point)

Responses

82
82

80
80

210
210

208
208

1 answer

In a nuclear reaction where polonium-212 (\(^{212}{84}Po\)) emits an alpha particle (\(^{4}{2}\alpha\)), the atomic number and mass number of the resulting element can be determined as follows:

When polonium emits an alpha particle, the reaction can be represented as:

\[ ^{212}{84}Po \rightarrow ^{4}{2}\alpha + ^{A}_{Z}Pb \]

To find the atomic number of lead (\(Pb\)), we can subtract the atomic number of the alpha particle from the atomic number of polonium:

\[ Z_{Pb} = 84 - 2 = 82 \]

The corresponding mass number of lead can be calculated similarly:

\[ A_{Pb} = 212 - 4 = 208 \]

Thus, polonium-212 decays to lead-208, and the atomic number of lead is 82.

Therefore, the correct response is:

82