Beta decay

In radioactive beta decay, a neutron turns into a proton or a proton into a neutron, with the atomic nucleus emitting an electron plus antineutrino and a positron plus neutrino, respectively. In this case, electron and positron are called beta particles (denoted by the Greek letters β^- and β⁺) to indicate that they are formed inside the atomic nucleus.

History

The name was coined by the New Zealand physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871 – 1937) Baron of Nelson. By 1900, the French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel (1852 – 1908) had already shown that the particles were electrons. In 1914, the English physicist James Chadwick (1891 – 1974) demonstrated the continuous energy distribution of these electrons.

Related concepts

• abundance
• alpha decay
• auger effect
• electron capture
• gamma decay
• internal conversion
• mass defect
• nuclear decay
• nuclear fission
• nuclear fusion