Answer the following questions:
a) Are the equations of nuclear reactions ‘balanced’ in the sense a chemical equation (e.g., 2H2 + O2→ 2 H2O) is? If not, in what sense are they balanced on both sides?
b) If both the number of protons and the number of neutrons are conserved in each nuclear reaction, in what way is mass converted into energy (or vice-versa) in a nuclear reaction?
c) A general impression exists that mass-energy interconversion takes place only in nuclear reaction and never in chemical reaction. This is strictly speaking, incorrect. Explain.

Explanation

(a) 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. A chemical reaction merely alters the original combinations of atoms. In a nuclear reaction, elements may be transmuted. Thus, the number of atoms of each element is not necessarily conserved in a nuclear reaction. However, the number of protons and the number of neutrons are both separately conserved in a nuclear reaction. [Actually, even this is not strictly true in the realm of very high energies - what is strictly conserved is the total charge and total .baryon number.. We need not pursue this matter here.] In nuclear reactions (e.g., Eq. 13.26), the number of protons and the number of neutrons are the same on the two sides of the equation,
(b) We know that the binding energy of a nucleus gives a negative contribution to the mass of the nucleus (mass defect). Now, since proton number and neutron number are conserved in a nuclear reaction, the total rest mass of neutrons and protons is the same on either side of a reaction. But the total binding energy of nudel on the left side need not be the same as that on the right hand side. The difference in these binding energies appears as energy released or absorbed in a nuclear reaction. Since binding energy contributes to mass, we say that the difference in the total mass of nudel on the two sides get converted into energy or vice-versa. It is in these sense that a nuclear reaction is an example of mass energy interconversion.
(c) From the point of view of mass-energy interconversion, a chemical reaction is similar to a nuclear reaction in principle. The energy released or absorbed in a chemical reaction can be traced to the difference in chemical (not nuclear) binding energies of atoms and molecules on the two sides of a reaction. Since, strictly speaking, chemical binding energy also gives a negative contribution (mass defect) to the total mass of an atom or molecule, we can equally well say that the difference in the total mass of atoms or molecules, on the two sides of the 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. This is the reason for the general impression, (which is incorrect) that mass-energy interconversion does not take place in a chemical reaction.