Edexcel IGCSE Physics 7.7 Nuclear emission effects

Practise predicting how alpha, beta, gamma and neutron emissions change the proton and nucleon numbers of nuclei.

Exam points

describe alpha emission as the nucleus losing two protons and two neutrons
apply beta decay rules: proton number increases by 1 while neutron number decreases by 1
state that gamma emission changes neither atomic number nor mass number when only energy is emitted

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This question is about using carbon dating to find the age of pieces of wood.

The equation shows how carbon-14 forms in the atmosphere.

{ }_{0}^{1} \mathrm{n}+{ }_{7}^{14} \mathrm{~N} \rightarrow{ }_{6}^{14} \mathrm{C}+{ }_{1}^{1} \mathrm{X}

Carbon-14 decays by beta decay.

State what happens to the number of protons and the number of neutrons in a carbon-14 nucleus when it decays.

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