Nuclear Equations - Summary - GCSE Physics

Nuclear equations represent radioactive decay. They are similar to chemical equations in that the left hand side represents the situation before a change and the right hand side represents the situation after the change.

In alpha decay the mass number decreases by 4, the atomic number decreases by 2.
In beta decay the mass number is not changed, but the atomic number increases by 1.
We do not usually write decay equations for gamma emissions as the nucleus is unchanged by the emission.

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