Question

What type of nuclear radiation is given off in the nuclear reaction below?

35/16S→35/17Cl

Answer 1

Beta radiation

Step-by-step explanation:

we know the three types of nuclear radiation:

1. alpha
2. beta
3. gamma

okay so first look at the mass number of both the product and reactant, we notice that the mass number for both remains 35.

immediately we can cross of the possibility of it being alpha radiation because an alpha particle is similar to that of helium nucleus, hence if it was alpha, the mass number of Cl would be 4 less.

now look at the atomic number, we notice that moving from S to Cl it increased by 1 which can only mean it was beta radiation.

Beta radiation is when a neutron inside to nucleus turns into a proton and an electron, the electron is ejected from the nucleus hence it's a high speed electron.

neutron --> proton + electron

the reason the mass number is the same is because a neutron and proton has a mass of 1 whilst the electron is too small to cause much change.

the reason for nuclear decay is mainly because the elements want to achieve more stability.