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Electron capture happens most often in the heavier neutron-deficient elements where the mass change is smallest and positron emission is not always possible. When the loss of mass in a nuclear reaction is greater than zero but less than 2m e c 2 the process cannot occur by positron emission, but occurs spontaneously for electron capture.
Nuclei which decay by positron emission may also decay by electron capture. For low-energy decays, electron capture is energetically favored by 2m e c 2 = 1.022 MeV, since the final state has an electron removed rather than a positron added. As the energy of the decay goes up, so does the branching fraction of positron emission.
If the mass difference between the mother and daughter atoms is more than two masses of an electron (1.022 MeV), the energy released in the process is enough to allow another mode of decay, called electron capture with positron emission. It occurs along with double electron capture, their branching ratio depending on nuclear properties.
The radioactive decay modes of electron capture and internal conversion are known to be slightly sensitive to chemical and environmental effects that change the electronic structure of the atom, which in turn affects the presence of 1s and 2s electrons that participate in the decay process.
The two types of beta decay are known as beta minus and beta plus.In beta minus (β −) decay, a neutron is converted to a proton, and the process creates an electron and an electron antineutrino; while in beta plus (β +) decay, a proton is converted to a neutron and the process creates a positron and an electron neutrino. β + decay is also known as positron emission.
This corresponds to β − decay or electron emission, the only form of beta decay which had been observed when Fajans and Soddy proposed their law in 1913. Later, in the 1930s, other forms of beta decay known as β + decay ( positron emission ) and electron capture were discovered, in which the atomic number becomes less by 1 than that of the ...
In about 89.28% of events, it decays to calcium-40 (40 Ca) with emission of a beta particle (β −, an electron) with a maximum energy of 1.31 MeV and an antineutrino. In about 10.72% of events, it decays to argon-40 ( 40 Ar) by electron capture (EC), with the emission of a neutrino and then a 1.460 MeV gamma ray .
, which can decay either by positron emission to 64 28 Ni, or by electron emission to 64 30 Zn. Of the nine primordial odd–odd nuclides (five stable and four radioactive with long half lives), only 14 7 N is the most common isotope of a common element. This is the case because proton capture on 14 7 N is the rate-limiting step of the CNO-I cycle.