Mass Number Changes in Radioactive Decay
Different types of radioactive decay are characterized by their changes in mass number as well as atomic number, according to the radioactive displacement law of Fajans and Soddy. For example, uranium-238 usually decays by alpha decay, where the nucleus loses two neutrons and two protons in the form of an alpha particle. Thus the atomic number and the number of neutrons each decrease by 2 (Z: 92→90, N: 146→144), so that the mass number decreases by 4 (A = 238→234); the result is an atom of thorium-234 and an alpha particle (4
2He2+):
-
238
92U→ 234
90Th+ 4
2He2+
On the other hand, carbon-14 naturally decays by radioactive beta decay, whereby one neutron is transmuted into a proton with the emission of an electron and an anti-neutrino. Thus the atomic number increases by 1 (Z: 6→7) and the mass number remains the same (A = 14), while the number of neutrons decreases by 1 (N: 8→7). The resulting atom is nitrogen-14, with seven protons and seven neutrons:
-
14
6C→ 14
7N+ e− + ν
e
Another type of radioactive decay without change in mass number is emission of a gamma ray from a nuclear isomer or metastable excited state of an atomic nucleus. Since all the protons and neutrons remain in the nucleus unchanged in this process, the mass number is also unchanged.
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