What is the equation for electron capture of uranium 237?
1 Answer
May 11, 2014
The equation is
In electron capture, the nucleus pulls an outside electron into the nucleus. The electron combines with a proton to make a neutron and emits an electron neutrino.
Some texts omit the neutrino in the equation because it has no mass or charge. It serves only to carry away the excess energy.
Since proton becomes a neutron, the number of protons decreases by 1, but the atomic mass stays the same.
One example of electron capture involves uranium-237.