Beta Plus Decay

[Future JPL Space Engineer]

Hi scientists, I'm researching about positrons and related particles, I studied that the Beta Plus Decay produces

positron like this: Hit Energy on Proton -> Produces Positron and Neutrino.

Is that correct?

[swansont]

Hi scientists, I'm researching about positrons and related particles, I studied that the Beta Plus Decay produces

positron like this: Hit Energy on Proton -> Produces Positron and Neutrino.

Is that correct?

 

Nothing hits the proton; the reaction is spontaneous, so it happens on its own. The proton becomes a neutron, and a positron and neutrino are also produced, which are ejected from the nucleus the proton was in; they carry away most of the energy released in the reaction.

 

A proton by itself is stable and can't undergo such a decay. It has to be in a nucleus, and one in which there are enough protons that turning into a neutron puts it into a lower energy state (conceptually like something falling off a table gets to a lower energy state by going to the floor. It never spontaneously falls up)