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Answer the following questions:
(a) Are the following equations of nuclear reactions balanced in the sense of a chemical equation e.g. `2H_2+O_2=2H_2O`? If not, in what sense are they balanced on both sides? for example :
`6C^(12)+._6C^(12) to._10Ne^(20)+._2He^4`
(b) If both the number of protons and number of neutrons are conserved in each nuclear reaction, in what way is mass converted into energy of vice-versa in a nuclear reaction?
(c) A general impression exists that mass energy interconversion take place only in nuclear reactions and never in chemical reactions. This is strictly speaking incorrect. Explain

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(a) A chemical reaction simply changes the original combination of atoms. Therefore, a chemical equation is balanced in the sense that the number of atoms of each element is the same on both sides of the equation.
In a nuclear reaction, elements may be transmitted, both are conserved separately in a nuclear reaction. At very high energies, even this is not valid. At such energies, total charge is conserved and total baryon number is conserved. In the given example, neutron number and proton number are conserved separately.
(b) As neutron number and proton number are conserved in a nuclear reaction, the total rest mass of neutrons and protons is the same on either side of nuclear on the nuclear reaction. But the total B.E. of nuclei on the left side need not be the same as that on the right side. The difference in the binding energies on two sides appears as energy released or absorbed in the nuclear reaction. As B.E. contributes to mass, we say that the difference in total mass of nuclei on the two sides gets converted into energy or vice-versa. It is in this sense that a nuclear reaction is an example of mass-energy interconversion.
(c) In principle, a chemical reaction is similar to a nuclear reaction, form the point of view of mass energy interconversion. The energy released of absorbed in a chemical binding energies of atoms and molecules on the two sides of a chemical reaction. As chemical binding energy is also due to mass defect, we can say that difference in the total mass of atoms or molecules on the two sides of chemical reaction gets converted into energy or vice-versa
However, the mass defects involved in a chemical reaction are almost a million times smaller than those in a nuclear reaction. That is why we have the impression that mass energy interconversion does not take place in a chemical reaction, though the impression is incorrect.

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