Question

What type of decay process is demonstrated in the following reaction 40 -19K to 0 -1e+40-20Ca?

Answer 1

Answer is: beta decay.

Nuclear reaction: ⁴⁰K → ⁴⁰Ca + e⁻.

Beta decay is radioactive decay in which a beta ray and a neutrino are emitted from an atomic nucleus.

There are two types of beta decay: beta minus and beta plus.

In beta minus decay, neutron is converted to a proton and an electron and an electron antineutrino.

In this nuclear reaction, potassium (atomic number 19) changes to calcium (atomic number 20), atomic number Z is increased by one.

Answer 2

The decay process that is demonstrated by the equation above would be a beta decay. This type of radioactive decay involves the emission of a beta particle. It happens when one of the protons is transformed in the other. The beta particle here is represented by 0 -1e.