Question

I'm having a hard time figuring out the answer. Help please?
In a water solution, HCl and NaOH react to form H2O and NaCl. Radium-226 undergoes alpha decay to form radon-222. The temperature of both of these reactions is increased. Which of the following statements is true?

Answer 1

A. The rate of the chemical reaction increases, but the rate of the nuclear reaction remains the same.
B. The rate of the nuclear reaction increases, but the rate of the chemical reaction remains the same.
C. The rates of both reactions increase.
D. The rates of both reactions remain the same.

Answer 2

I'm fairly certain temperature doesn't affect the rate of nuclear decay as nuclear decay has to do with the strong force and interaction between sub-atomic particles WITHIN a nucleus. Temperature affects the rate of chemical reactions because it governs the kinetics of bonds that form BETWEEN nuclei and adds energy to the system by increasing vibration, rotation, and translation of bonded atoms (but to my knowledge does not affect the nuclei).

Therefore, I would say the answer is A.

Answer 3

Thank you for explaining it, it makes sense.