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Radioactive Decay
β
+
decay
Unstable nuclides having an excessive number of protons in comparison to
β
+
neutrons tend to reduce their number of protons by undergoing β
+
decay where
the basic transformation process is
e
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
n p
ν+β + ⇒
+
+
+
The neutrino (electron-neutrino),
ν
e
, is like antineutrino a neutral particle
(lepton) with practically 0 rest mass (< 18 eV). According to this in the β
+
decay
the atomic number of the nucleus is decreased by 1 and the number of
neutrons is increased by 1 where the mass number remains unchanged. β
+
decay like β
-
decay is an isobaric nuclei transformation.