Question

What is an example of a positron decay practice problem?

Answer 1

Here are five practice problems.

Explanation:

Two points to remember about positron decay:

1. It emits a positron and a neutrino.
2. The atomic number decreases by one, and the mass number is unchanged.

Here is an example of a positron decay equation:

`""_12^23"Mg" → ""_11^23"Na" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

Practice problems

Complete the following positron decay equations.

(a) `""_35^75"Br" → "?" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(b) `"?" → ""_14^30"Si" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(c) `""_14^27"Si" → "?" + ""_0^0ν`

(d) `"?"→ ""_21^45"Sc" + "?"`

(e) `""_5^8"B" → "?"`

Solutions

(a) `""_35^75"Br" →"" _34^75"Se" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(b) `""_15^30"P" → ""_14^30"Si" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(c) `""_14^27"Si" → ""_13^27"Al" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(d) `""_22^45"Ti" → ""_21^45"Sc" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`

(e) `""_5^8"B" → ""_4^8"Be" + ""_1^0"e" + ""_0^0ν`