What does potassium-40 turn into after experiencing radioactive decay?

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Answer 1 · 2018-03-24T15:50:09

It undergoes both types of beta decay.

Potassium- $40$ is an interesting isotope of potassium, that can undergo both beta-plus and beta-minus decay.

It has an $89%$ chance of undergoing beta-minus decay, turning into calcium- $40$ , and the equation for that is:

$""_19^40K->""_20^40Ca+e^(-)+barv$ , where $barv$ is an antineutrino, and $e^-$ is an electron.

Meanwhile, the remaining $11%$ chance makes it undergo beta-plus decay, which turns it into argon- $40$ , and that equation is:

$""_19^40K->""_18^40Ar+e^++v$ , where $v$ is a neutrino, and $e^+$ is a positron.

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