Fusion of protium and tritium

Answer 1

Hi, Mya - nuclear fusion is when the nuclei come together, or "fuse" to make a larger nucleus. So you have to add the particles all together and see what you come up with! Protium is Hydrogen-1, the most common isotope of hydrogen. This has one proton and no neutrons, which is why it has a mass number of 1. Tritium is Hydrogen-3, an isotope of hydrogen with a mass number of 3. Since it's hydrogen, it has 1 proton, but it also has 2 neutrons (total protons plus neutrons gives you the mass number).

When you fuse these two nuclei, you end up with 2 protons and 2 neutrons, which means your new atomic number is 2 (2 protons in the nucleus) and your mass number is 4 (total protons plus neutrons). Therefore this will be a Helium-4 nucleus.

Answer 2

So, is there a question here? Are you asking if this can take place? Are you asking, if it did take place, what would be formed?

If it were to take place, you would form a helium atom with 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Is it likely to take place? NO. First off, the two nuclei will exhibit electrostatic repulsion and the energy required to overcome that would be rather large. Even if sufficient energy were to be supplied/available, once the two nuclei fused, there would be no place for all the excess energy to go, leaving the helium nucleus with excess energy making it unstable.