Question

balanced nuclear equation for the following: The nuclide iron-59 undergoes beta decay to form cobalt-59 .

Answer 1

First lets understand what Beta Decay is. First a Beta is a negatively charged electron. Beta Decay is used to change the proton/neutron ratio/number in a nucleus. During Beta Decay a neutron inside nucleus of an atom breaks down and is emitted or in other words split into a Proton and Electron. The electron goes zooming into space but a proton is produced. As you can see, it produces an increase of 1 proton and a decrease in 1 neutron (because neutron gets emitted/split). Therefore atomic number will increase, BUT MASS WILL NOT CHANGE. (Remember atomic number is equal to the number of protons in an element)

For this particular equation it goes as follows. If nuclide iron 59 emits a beta particle out of a neutron, this means the neutron then becomes a proton, raising the atomic number by one, so the isotope formed is now Cobalt 59. Co 59 – β- → Ni 59

Here I explained the equation better in the file I made, describing what the balanced equation looks like. Hope this helps you understand the concept.

Answer 2

Alif I really appreciate your full explanation, just as needed! Thanks again !