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Radioactive Decay
β
-
decay
Unstable nuclides having an
excessive number of neutrons
in comparison to
β
-
protons tend to reduce their number of neutrons by undergoing β- decay
where the basic transformation process is:
According to this in the β
-
decay the atomic number of the nucleus is increased
by 1 and the number of neutrons in the nucleus is decreased by 1, where the
mass number remains unchanged. Thus β
-
decay is in contrast to alpha decay
e
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
p n
ν+β + ⇒
−
+
an
isobaric nuclei transformation
. The β
-
general disintegration scheme is
shown in the following equation:
−
β
−
+
+ν+β +
⇒
Q
daughter
parent
e
0
0
0
1
A
1Z
A
Z