THE PRACTICE STUDIO
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PRACTICE / Alpha decay
An alpha particle removes both proton and neutron counts
A nucleus with mass number A = 210 and proton number Z = 84 undergoes one alpha decay.
How many neutrons remain in the daughter nucleus?
Organize the givens & assumptions
- Parent A = 210
- Parent Z = 84
- Alpha particle: A = 4, Z = 2
Single alpha emission with no additional particle emission; mass number counts nucleons and Z counts protons. Atomic-electron rearrangement does not change the nuclear counts.
- A
- B
- C
- D
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