Question

This question is really confusing me. Please help?

When is alpha particle emission most likely to occur?

a. When the nucleus has more than 83 protons.

b. When the ratio of neutrons to protons in the nucleus is too high to be stable.

c. When the nucleus has a mass of more than 83 amu.

d. When the ratio of neutrons to protons in the nucleus is not exactly balanced.

Answer 1

"Alpha decay typically occurs in the heaviest nuclides. Theoretically, it can occur only in nuclei somewhat heavier than nickel (element 28), where the overall binding energy per nucleon is no longer a minimum and the nuclides are therefore unstable toward spontaneous fission-type processes. In practice, this mode of decay has only been observed in nuclides considerably heavier than nickel, with the lightest known alpha emitter being the lightest isotopes (mass numbers 106–110) of tellurium (element 52)."

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_decay

So the answer A is wrong as ther's enough 52 protons.

Answer B means that you had +/- 40 protons (amu is the atomic mass unit and it's the summ of protons and neutrons of the nucleus), and it's wrong too cuz you need much more protons (in practice).

Answer C is wrong too, cuz almost never the ratio of neutrons to protons in the nucleus is exactly balanced.

So the answer is B.

Answer 2

Thank you so much!