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What's the equation of Francium – 223 returned to the ground state?

User Hashmush
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1 Answer

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29 votes

Answer:

22387Fr→22388Ra+0−1e+00ν

Step-by-step explanation:

β-decay is the decay of a neutron into a proton, which keeps the total mass the same, but increases the number of protons by 1. β-decay does this by releasing an electron, which conserves charge, and a neutrino.

Francium-223 has an atomic number of 87, so is written as

22387Fr

If the atomic number then increases by 1 to become 88, then it is a new element. Looking at the periodic table, element 88 is radium, Ra.

In the form of an equation, this is shown as

22387Fr→22388Ra+0−1e+00ν

You can check this is correct by adding up the top numbers on each side and equating them, and doing the same with the bottom numbers.

223=223+0+0

87+88+(−1)+0

User MRHwick
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