Question

Tritium and helium-3 have the same number of nucleons, but tritium has one proton and two neutrons whereas helium-3 has two protons and one neutron. Without doing a calculation, decide which nucleus has a greater binding energy. Explain. (Select all that apply.)
a. This happens in part because the tritium nucleus has greater Coulombic repulsion.
b. This happens in part because the helium-3 nucleus has greater Coulombic repulsion between nucleons.
c. This happens in part because the tritium nucleus has an extra neutron enhancing the nuclear forces.
d. Helium-3 is more stable.
e. This happens in part because the helium-3 nucleus has fewer neutrons.
f. Tritium is more stable.

Answer 1

Answer:

Tritium is more stable.

This happens in part because the tritium nucleus has an extra neutron enhancing the nuclear forces.

Explanation:

The binding energy is the energy that holds nucleons together in the nucleus. It depends on the number of nucleons present in the nucleus. The greater the number of nucleons, the greater the binding energy.

Also, the more the number of neutrons in a nucleus, the greater the nuclear forces. Helium-3 has only one neutron while tritium has two neutrons. The extra neutron in tritium enhances the nuclear forces hence tritium has a greater binding energy than Helium-3