Regarding the various projectiles used for artificial nuclear transmutation, which of the following — Nuclear Chemistry and Radioactivity Chemistry Question

💡 Solution & Explanation

Neutrons are excellent projectiles due to their neutrality (no Coulombic repulsion). Positively charged projectiles ($\alpha$, protons, deuterons) face strong repulsion and thus require particle accelerators to impart high kinetic energies. Option B is wrong as protons/deuterons are better than $\alpha$ -particles because they have only a single positive charge to overcome. Option C is wrong because neutrons, being neutral, cannot be accelerated by electromagnetic particle accelerators.