One method used to determine unknown atomic masses consists of precisely measuring the kinetic en- ergies of the particles involved in a nuclear reaction and using known atomic masses. The mass of 34Si is determined by the 30Si(18O, 14O)34Si reaction initiated by 100-MeV 18O particles. The outgoing particles have 86.63 MeV of energy, which can be determined only by measuring the 14O energy and using the conservation of momentum and energy.
(a) What is the Q value of the reaction?
(b) What is the mass of 34Si assuming the other three masses involved are known (see Appendix 8)?