The quantity which is not conserved in a nuclear reaction is

Learning Objectives By the end of this section, you will be able to: • Define and discuss nuclear decay. • State the conservation laws. • Explain parent and daughter nucleus. • Calculate the energy emitted during nuclear decay. Nuclear decay has provided an amazing window into the realm of the very small. Nuclear decay gave the first indication of the connection between mass and energy, and it revealed the existence of two of the four basic forces in nature. In this section, we explore the major modes of nuclear decay; and, like those who first explored them, we will discover evidence of previously unknown particles and conservation laws. Some nuclides are stable, apparently living forever. Unstable nuclides decay (that is, they are radioactive), eventually producing a stable nuclide after many decays. We call the original nuclide the parent and its decay products the daughters. Some radioactive nuclides decay in a single step to a stable nucleus. For example, \(\ce\) nucleus, which has two protons and two neutrons. The daughters of \(\beta\) decay have one less neutron and one more proton than their parent. Beta decay is a little more subtle, as we shall see. No \(\gamma\) decays are shown in the figure, because they do not produce a daughter that differs from the parent. Alpha Decay In alpha decay, a \(\ce\] Here, \(E\) is the nuclear reaction energy (the reaction can be nuclear decay or any other reaction), and \(\Delta m\) is the difference in mass between initial and ...