Answer to Question #21098 in Atomic and Nuclear Physics for Indrasis Roy

Question

During a positive beta decay, while the proton decays to form a neutron, a positron and a neutrino, there is an increase in mass, but this mass increase is not reflected in certain examples of positive beta decay. Why? where does the increased mass go? and moreover, according to the laws of physics and chemistry, mass remains conserved and is interconvertible to energy. but in this case, mass increases in an intranuclear reaction. is it even possible? Mass should not increase but accpording to the equation it does. Why? Please contact as soon as possible.

Answer 1

Free proton decay is forbidden by the law of conservation of energy. Proton can decay in the nucleus, if:
Мх(А,Z)>My(A, Z-1) + me,
where Mx - the mass of the initial nucleus,
My - the mass of the nucleus after emission,
me - mass of the electron.
When a nucleus breaks apart or undergoes a nuclear reaction the mass of the products is less than the mass of the initial nucleus. Missing mass is converted into energy.& And the mass of the initial nucleus is equal to the mass of the daughter nucleus plus the mass of the emitted particle plus - according to Einstein's equation E=mc2- the energy emitted in the decay and divided by c2. The energy that must be expended to split the nucleus into its component parts is called the binding energy of the nucleus ℰb.