4 ms·
> Every so often an atom of neptunium-237 absorbs a neutron emitted by the core’s decaying uranium, later shedding an electron to become plutonium-238. Doesn't
by jevinskie 13y ago
> Every so often an atom of neptunium-237 absorbs a neutron emitted by the core’s decaying uranium, later shedding an electron to become plutonium-238.
Doesn't it shed a proton to become plutonium 238 and, as a consequence, loses an electron?
- pjscott 13y agoProper description of what's going on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay
- jevinskie 13y agoThank you very much, I was under the impression that the electron was lost from the orbital cloud, not the nucleus! Edit: Looking back at my math it was an off-by-one error in the wrong direction. :)
- jlgreco 13y agohttp://upload.wikimedia.org/math/5/5/7/557cb46ae9126680a7d579dd5e15015a.png http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/5/5/7/557cb46ae9126680a7d57... Basically one of the neutrons kicks out a beta particle and becomes a proton. The atomic number goes up but the mass number stays the same.