Question

How does an atom change when it undergoes radioactive decay?

Answer 1

Hint: Just remember radioactivity is the loss of mass of an atom by radiating different particles that are $\alpha $ particles, $\beta $ particles, and $\gamma $ rays. Therefore, when an atom undergoes radioactive decay it is converted into an isotope.

Complete step-by-step answer:We know that in radioactive decay that each and every atom will lose protons and therefore they create new elements.Similarly in the alpha decay alpha particles like helium nucleus are being emitted from radioactive atoms as well as atoms. So therefore loss of $2$ protons and here they become a newer element.
\[_{103}^{256}Li\text{ }\to _{101}^{252}Md\text{ }+\text{ }_{2}^{4}He\]

The above is alpha decay of lawrencium which is an unstable synthetic element where it had decays into mendelevium of around $251$ which on the other sides emitted out as in form of an alpha particle.
Going with beta decay which is an atom that emits an electron with antineutrino and positron with neutrino which can be converted from one of it’s neutrons into a proton vice versa. There are two types of beta decay firstly beta-plus, secondly beta-minus, but here we only have to include beta minus equation;

Therefore during beta decay mass stays conserved all the time as well as only elements get changed. Let’s take an example of a beta minus decay where we have took carbon $14$ The necessary equation is written as:
$_{6}^{14}C\xrightarrow{-\beta }_{7}^{14}N+\bar{v}+{{e}^{-}}$

Also, elements which have a high atomic number and atomic mass tend to show radioactivity. Some of the most common elements showing radioactivity are uranium, radium, thorium, polonium, plutonium, carbon, cesium, and neptunium.

Note:Now, you might get confused about radioactivity and radiation. Just remember the concept of radiation is the energy that is continuously released during radioactive decay whereas radioactivity is the rate of decay of radiations by an unstable nucleus.