Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Electron capture
Electron capture is a decay mode for chemical elements that will occur when there are too many protons in the nucleus of an atom, and there isn't enough energy to emit a positron.
In this case, one of the orbital electrons is captured by a proton in the nucleus, forming a neutron and a neutrino. Since the proton is essentially changed to a neutron, the number of neutrons increases by 1, the number of protons decreases by 1, and the atomic mass remains unchanged. By changing the number of protons, electron capture transforms the nuclide into a new element.
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details