Nuclear Reaction for Phosphorus
Submitted by Anonymous on 23 October 2006 - 6:43pm.
I got this question from my natural science class
The following important nuclear reaction takes place on the surface of old stars:

What is the full identity of the unspecified product? Explain how you came to this conclusion. Are the ingredients commonly found in OUR environment?
Any help would be grately appreciated.
thank you

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As far as i know, which isnt
As far as i know, which isnt much; im in 10th grade, Phosphorus is not Radioactive, and cannot undergo a nuclear reaction. also, 29P = 145 Electrons, and it generally doesnt make any sort of reaction unless the end result has a full valence level. or an empty one. now if the 1H gives up it's 1 electron, it would bring the total electron count for the Phosphorus to 146, and 146/8=18.25, and it does not seem as if it will be possible for the two to combine. unless you do something like.... um....1H+1P=7 Electrons, which would get you a close to full valence level for the combination. Then you would have 28P left over though, and unless i am totally missing out on something, this does not seem very possible.
The atomic number of
The atomic number of phosphorus is 15, so there are 15 electrons in a neutral atom (far fewer than 145 and I can't imagine where you got that number from), but electrons don't enter into this problem because electrons effect chemistry and this is a question about nuclear physics; the proton (H) slams into the 15 protons and 14 neutrons of P to give a photon and 16 protons and 14 neutrons of sulfur-30, which of course will decay.