Predict the type of radioactive decay process for the following radionuclides: (a) ⁸₅B.

Video transcript

Hey everyone were asked what type of radioactive decay process will zinc 69 a radionuclide most likely undergo. To answer this question. We first need to determine our neutron to proton ratio, which is essentially our atomic mass minus our atomic number. All over our atomic number. As we've learned, the atomic mass is the sum of the protons and the neutrons. And our atomic number tells us the number of protons. So that is why we subtract our atomic number from our atomic mass in order to get the number of neutrons. So when we plug in our values we get 69 -30, all divided by 30. And this gives us an N oversee ratio of 1.3. Now, since our atomic number is in between the values of 20 and This means our N oversee ratio must be equal to 1. in order to be considered stable. And as we can see right here, our neutron and proton ratio is greater than 1.25, which essentially means we are above the valley of stability. And since we are above the value of stability, this means we have too many neutrons and we are most likely to undergo beta decay. So looking at our answer choices, it looks like B is going to be our final answer. Now, I hope that made sense. And let us know if you have any questions