Adding an alpha particle to the nucleus of sodium atom produces which new element?

Options

A. Mg
B. P
C. Al
D. Ne

Explanation

To solve the question of what new element is produced when an alpha particle is added to the nucleus of a sodium atom, we can follow these steps:

### Step 1: Identify the atomic and mass numbers of sodium.
- The atomic number of sodium (Na) is 11.
- The mass number of sodium is 23.
- We can represent sodium as:
\[ \text{Na}_{11}^{23} \]

### Step 2: Identify the characteristics of an alpha particle.
- An alpha particle is essentially a helium nucleus, which has:
- Atomic number = 2
- Mass number = 4
- We can represent an alpha particle as:
\[ \text{He}_{2}^{4} \]

### Step 3: Add the alpha particle to the sodium nucleus.
- When we add an alpha particle to the sodium nucleus, we need to add both the atomic numbers and the mass numbers.
- The new atomic number (Z) will be:
\[ 11 + 2 = 13 \]
- The new mass number (A) will be:
\[ 23 + 4 = 27 \]

### Step 4: Determine the new element.
- The new element can be represented as:
\[ \text{X}_{13}^{27} \]
- We need to identify the element with atomic number 13. From the periodic table, the element with atomic number 13 is aluminum (Al).

### Step 5: Conclusion
- Therefore, when an alpha particle is added to the nucleus of a sodium atom, the new element produced is aluminum (Al), represented as:
\[ \text{Al}_{13}^{27} \]

### Final Answer:
- The answer is option C: Aluminum.

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