Bombarding Br-81 with gamma rays gives a radioactive nuclide and a neutron. What is the radionuclide?

1 Answer
A08
Mar 30, 2016

#"_35^80text(Br)#

Explanation:

#"_35^81text(Br)# is an isotope of Bromine known to stable. It is bombarded with #gamma# rays to give two products a radioactive nuclide and a neutron. The equation can be written as

#"_35^81text(Br)+gamma# #-># #text(X)+"_0^1text(n)#

Comparing the charges and atomic masses on the both sides of the nuclear reaction, we observe that the daughter nuclide has

  1. the same atomic number, and
  2. its mass number is 1 less than the parent.

It is therefore, clear that the radioactive nuclide is an isotope of Bromine with mass number one less than the parent.
Therefore, the daughter is #"_35^80text(Br)#

It is known that #"_35^80text(Br)# is radioactive and decays via #beta# decay as below.

  1. #"_35^80text(Br)-> beta^-# #+ "_36^80text(Kr)#
  2. #"_35^80text(Br)-> beta^+##+"_34^80text(Se)#
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