Sodium-22, an isotope used in positron emission tomography, decays to its ground…
CHEMISTRY · Multi-part · US High School · Chemistry · Atomic Structure & Nuclear · Atomic Structure & Nuclear
Problem
Sodium-22, an isotope used in positron emission tomography, decays to its ground state through the simultaneous emission of two distinct radiations. A simplified representation is given below, where the daughter nuclide and one emitted radiation are omitted:
1122Na⟶?+β++γ.
(a) Identify the daughter nuclide and write the fully balanced nuclear equation, including all emitted particles.
(b) Determine the numerical change in (i) atomic number and (ii) mass number of the nucleus that occurs during this decay.
(c) Justify why the emission of the γ photon does not alter the quantities calculated in part (b).