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If Carbon-14 effectively gains a proton but no electrons when decaying to Nitrogen-14....?
... then how come said Nitrogen atom isn't described as an "ion" in any text or reference I can find? Is there some hidden process by which the outer shells are re-balanced (remembering that we assume it's a single atom out in boundless space, and the beta electron emitted during the conversion is lost from it to be absorbed by a GM tube somewhere), is it merely thought of as unimportant by science, or am I - and the others I've asked about it, and the person who asked me it (and the originator who asked THEM) - just being thick and missing something obvious?
Cheers,
confused of Nothavingachemophysicaldegreeshire
PS I *KNOW* it's nuclear radiation. The problem is we now have an extra proton compared to before, i.e. 7 positive charges compared to 6 previously, and 6 negatives in the electron cloud ... therefore the atom should now be a positively charged anion. So why is it not named as such? (The electron from the nucleus ESCAPES, otherwise there would be no beta radiation to measure).
Trust me, we've been all around the interweb and a few textbooks trying to solve this one, between two science teachers and a former nuclear medicine worker. Anyone with a physics phd fancy giving it a crack?
...in fact it wouldnt matter where it comes from would it - it's lost a negative charge particle, so how can it (officially speaking at least) remain neutral afterwards?
No-one?
Discussion is also going on at http://www.tes.co.uk/section/staffroom/thread.aspx... ... where I'm not sure we've reached a satisfactory outcome either, other than "it IS an ion, but then picks up an electron electrostatically"... so there's still ionisation happening, surely, it's just passed on to a different atom? (Not even having an ionic or covalent bond by the sound of it - just nicking an electron from a "weaker" atom)
1 Answer
- Clueless DickLv 61 decade agoFavorite Answer
The "lost" electron comes out of the nucleus of the carbon, not its electron cloud.