Why do nuclei that are neutron-rich emit b particles? Why do nuclei that are neutron-poor emit a particles or positrons or undergo electron capture?

Video transcript

Hello everyone today. We are being given the falling problem. What is the preferred mode of decay for nuclei that are neutron rich for nuclear that are neutron poor? So we have two parts of this. So first we'll enter the part where we have neutron rich nuclear. So the preferred mode of decay for neutron rich, it's going to be neutron emission. That is the release of neutrons or beta decay. And so the point of these two processes is to decrease the number of neutrons or increase the number of protons. And this helps balance out. The second part is going to be neutron poor nuclei and this is going to be positron emission or electron capture. And so the primary purpose of this is to decrease the number of protons or increase the number of neutrons. So we can see here that these are two opposite processes. So we have a process for new neutron rich and for neutron poor. And with that we've answered the question overall. I hope this helped. And until next time.