General Chemistry - Spontaneous Nuclear Decay | Alpha, Beta & Gamma | 20.3 General Chemistry

Spontaneous Nuclear Decay Processes Chad describes five spontaneous routes of nuclear decay as well as fission and fusion in this lesson. This includes alpha decay, beta decay, positron emission, electron capture, and gamma decay. It is shown how to predict the product of each of these types of decay and which of these routes of decay is/are most likely for a particular nuclide. This is often determined by the atomic number of the nuclide (for large atomic number) and/or by the N/Z ratio (ratio of neutrons to protons). When the N/Z ratio is too high beta decay is likely. When the N/Z ratio is too low either positron emission (for lighter nuclei) or electron capture (for heavier nuclei) is likely. Fission and Fusion Fission and fusion are also covered. Fission is the splitting apart of large nuclei into smaller nuclei and is the type of reaction occurring in our nuclear reactors using large nuclei such as uranium and plutonium. Fusion is the 'fusing' together of lighter nuclei and occurs at the core of a star and in hydrogen bomb explosions. I've embedded this playlist as a course on my website with all the lessons organized by chapter in a collapsible menu and much of the content from the study guide included on the page. Check this lesson out at https://www.chadsprep.com/chads-general-chemistry-videos/nuclear-decay/ If you want all my study guides, quizzes, final exam reviews, and practice exams, check out my General Chemistry Master Course at https://www.chadsprep.com/genchem-youtube 00:00 Lesson Introduction 00:31 Overview of the Routes of Nuclear Decay 01:30 Alpha Decay (aka Alpha Emission) 03:35 Beta Decay (aka Beta Emission) 07:28 Positron Emission 09:44 Electron Capture 11:45 Gamma Decay (aka Gamma Emission) 13:20 How to Predict the Route of Nuclear Decay 16:04 Fission and Fusion https://www.chadsprep.com/ #generalchemistry #chemistrytutorial #nuclearchemistry