Question

During nuclear decay, a new isotope is created. How is the nucleus of the new isotope different from the parent if the parent isotope has undergone alpha decay?

Answer 1

Alpha decay will produce a daughter nucleus with more protons and beta decay will produce a daughter nucleus with fewer protons than the parent nucleus has.

Answer 2

the difference in parent nuclei and daughter nuclei is that daughter nuclei is having smaller mass number and by 4 and smaller atomic number by 2

`_z^AX ----> _(z-2)^(A-4)Y + _2^4He`

Step-by-step explanation:

Alpha nucleus is the helium nuclei which is having 2 protons and 2 neutrons

So we will have

`\alpha = _2^4He`

now we know that in all radioactive decay mass number and atomic number will remain constant on product and reactant side

So we have

`X ------> Y + \alpha`

now by mass number conservation and atomic number conservation we have

`_z^AX ----> _(z-2)^(A-4)Y + _2^4He`

so the difference in parent nuclei and daughter nuclei is that daughter nuclei is having smaller mass number and by 4 and smaller atomic number by 2