23.

86: a) The two daughter nuclei have half the volume of the original uranium nucleus,
so their radii are smaller by a factor of the cube root of 2:
7.4 × 10 −15 m
r= 3
= 5.9 ×10 −15 m.
2
k ( 46 e) 2 k ( 46 ) 2 (1.60 ×10 −19 C) 2
b)  U = = −14
= 4.14 ×10 −11 J
2r 1.17 ×10 m
Each daughter has half of the potential energy turn into its kinetic energy when far from
each other, so:
K =U 2 = ( 4.15 ×10 −11 J) 2 = 2.07 ×10 −11 J.
c) If we have 10.0 kg of uranium, then the number of nuclei is:
10 .0 kg
n= = 2.55 ×10 25 nuclei.
236 u (1.66 ×10 −27 kg u )
And each releases energy
U : E = nU = ( 2.55 ×10 25 )( 4.15 ×10 −11 J) =1.06 ×10 15 J =
253 kilotons of TNT.
d) We could call an atomic bomb an “electric” bomb since the electric potential
energy provides the kinetic energy of the particles.