Alphabeta
A radioactive nucleus with atomic number Z = 92 and atomic mass A = 235 decays through a series of alpha, beta and gamma emissions to a stable nucleus with Z = 82 and A = 207. Let the number of alpha particles and the number of beta particles emitted during the entire process be a and b respectively. What is a+b?
The answer is 11.
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1 solution
7 alpha decays reduce A by 28 and Z by 14, however, 4 beta decays recover Z by 4. Thus, A goes down from 235 to 208 and Z goes down from 92 to 82.