Question #b30c9

1 Answer
Jun 30, 2017

The resulting isotope is chlorine-35.

Explanation:

Your goal here is to complete the nuclear equation given to you by using the fact that the radioactive nuclide undergoes a beta minus decay.

As you know, when a beta minus decay, more commonly called beta decay, a neutron located inside the nucleus of a radioactive nuclide is being converted to a proton.

At the same time, an electron, also called beta particle, and an electron antineutrino are being emitted from the nucleus.

http://legacy.jefferson.kctcs.edu/techcenter/Classes/Physics/AtomicNuclearandModernPhysics/AtomicNuclearandModernPhysics_print.html

In your case, you have

#""_ 16^35"S" -> ""_ Z^A"?" + ""_ (-1)^(color(white)(-)0)"e" + bar(nu)_ "e"#

Now, in a nuclear reaction, mass and charge are conserved. This means that you will have

#35 = A + 0 -># conservation of mass

#16 = Z + (-1) -># conservation of charge

You can thus say that

#A = 35" "# and #" " Z = 17#

Grab a Peridoc Table and look for the element that has an atomic number, i.e. #Z#, equal to #17#. You'll find that you're dealing with chlorine, #"Cl"#.

The resulting isotope is chlorine-35, which means that the balanced nuclear equation that describes the beta minus decay of sulfur-35 looks like this

#""_ 16^35"S" -> ""_ 17^35"Cl" + ""_ (-1)^(color(white)(-)0)"e" + bar(nu)_ "e"#