here is the full questiojn below.
An atom that undergoes radioactive decay and has a large nucleus most likely contains:
(a) a high neutron-proton ratio.
(b) a low neutron-proton ratio.
(c) more protons than electrons.
(d) more electrons than protons.
Answer:
(a) a high neutron-proton ratio
Step-by-step explanation:
An atom that undergoes radioactive decay and has a large nucleus most likely contains a high neutron-proton ratio. This stance is true because, the neutron–proton ratio of an atomic nucleus is the ratio of its number of neutrons to its number of protons. Among stable nuclei and naturally occurring nuclei, this ratio generally increases with increasing atomic number. This is because electrical repulsive forces between protons scale with distance differently than strong nuclear force attractions. As such, an atom that requires to undergo radioactivity and has large nucleic will most likely contains a high neutron-proton ratio.
Isotopes are atoms with the same atomic number i.e (the same number of protons) but different mass number (i.e number of neutrons). Isotopes are named according to their mass numbers; example chlorine-35, and chlorine-37. Their atomic numbers remain as 17 but neutron numbers differ (35 and 37).