How many coulombs of positive charge are there in 1.74 kg of plutonium, given its atomic mass is 244 g/mol and that each plutonium atom has 94 protons?

To determine the coulombs of positive charge in 1.74 kg of plutonium, the process involves calculating the number of plutonium atoms present in the given mass and then multiplying by 94 (the number of protons per atom) and the charge per proton to get approximately 6.493 x 10^6 C.

Explanation:

The question asks how many coulombs of positive charge are present in 1.74 kg of plutonium, given its atomic mass of 244g and each atom harboring 94 protons. The process to find the answer involves several steps. First, we calculate how many moles of plutonium are in 1.74 kg (or 1740 grams) and then, using Avogadro's number, find out how many atoms that amount represents. Since each plutonium atom has 94 protons, and each proton carries a charge of roughly 1.602 x 10-19 coulombs (e), we can calculate the total charge.

Find moles of plutonium: 1740 g / 244 g/mol = 7.1311 moles.
Find number of atoms: 7.1311 moles * 6.022 x 1023/mol = 4.294 x 1024 atoms.
Total charge: 4.294 x 1024 atoms * 94 protons/atom * 1.602 x 10-19 C/proton = 6.493 x 106 C.

Therefore, there are approximately 6.493 x 106 coulombs of positive charge in 1.74 kg of plutonium.