Alpha and Beta particles

[mattonfire]

During half life an atom loses it's mass. Is there a way for a Hydrogen Isotope to give off Alpha? It wouldn't be able to would it because alpha is Helium which requires a mass of two which you can't deduct from Hydrogen since it only has a mass of 1. Am I right?

[Shreyas1]

yea i think so. hydrogen has 1 proton and you cant add a proton to an element without changing it, so there should be no way.

[TAHIRMIA]

I HATE PHYSICS!!!!!!!!! 

 

and No it won't

[mattonfire]

23 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

yea i think so. hydrogen has 1 proton and you cant add a proton to an element without changing it, so there should be no way.

I think you misunderstood. Alpha takes away two protons. Beta adds on an electron, so if you had Polonium for example beta would be given off and the element would gain a proton and become Astatine. If you had Radium for example it would give off Radon and an Alpha particle which has the same structure as Helium. And you can't deduct 2 from Hydrogen because it only has 1 so I assume you can't do it.

[Seamonster420]

No, a hydrogen atom cannot give off an alpha particle but there are radioactive forms of hydrogen such as tritium which is radioactive in the form of beta decay. Beta decay is when a neutron decays into a proton releasing an beta particle and an antineutrino. The beta particle is either an electron or an antielectron.

[mattonfire]

1 hour ago, Seamonster420 said:

No, a hydrogen atom cannot give off an alpha particle but there are radioactive forms of hydrogen such as tritium which is radioactive in the form of beta decay. Beta decay is when a neutron decays into a proton releasing an beta particle and an antineutrino. The beta particle is either an electron or an antielectron.

Yup, cheers for the answer

[Shreyas1]

On 6/10/2017 at 11:48 AM, mattonfire said:

I think you misunderstood. Alpha takes away two protons. Beta adds on an electron, so if you had Polonium for example beta would be given off and the element would gain a proton and become Astatine. If you had Radium for example it would give off Radon and an Alpha particle which has the same structure as Helium. And you can't deduct 2 from Hydrogen because it only has 1 so I assume you can't do it.

i meant to say that you cant deduct more than the number of protons already there and there would be no way to add a proton to an element without changing it