Asked by Julie

Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen. The nucleus of a deuterium atom consists of one proton and one neutron. When two deuterium nuclei fuse, helium-3 is formed, and a neutron is emitted. Which equation illustrates this process?
2 superscript 2 subscript 1 upper H right arrow superscript 3 subscript 1 H plus superscript 1 superscript 1 H.
2 superscript 2 subscript 1 upper H right arrow superscript 3 subscript 2 upper H e plus superscript 1 subscript 0 n.

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
The second equation.

^2_1H + ^2_1H → ^3_2He + ^1_0n

Mass numbers: 2+2 = 4 and 3+1 = 4.
Atomic numbers: 1+1 = 2 and 2+0 = 2. This conserves both mass and charge.