Electron capture
Encyclopedia
Electron capture is a process in which a proton-rich nuclide absorbs an inner atomic electron (changing a nuclear proton to a neutron) and simultaneously emits a neutrino. Various photon emissions follow, in order to allow the energy of the atom to fall to the ground state of the new nuclide.
Electron capture is the primary decay mode for isotope
s with a relative superabundance of proton
s in the nucleus
, but with insufficient energy difference between the isotope and its prospective daughter (with one less positive charge) for the nuclide to decay by emitting a positron
. Electron capture also exists as a viable decay mode for radioactive isotopes with sufficient energy to decay by positron emission
, where it competes with positron emission. It is sometimes called inverse beta decay, though this term can also refer to the capture of a neutrino
through a similar process.
If the energy difference between the parent atom and the daughter atom is less than 1.022 MeV
, positron emission is forbidden because not enough decay energy
is available to allow it, and thus electron capture is the sole decay mode. For example, rubidium
-83 (37 protons, 46 neutrons) will decay to krypton
-83 (36 protons, 47 neutrons) solely by electron capture (the energy difference, or decay energy, is about 0.9 MeV).
Note that a free proton cannot normally be changed to a free neutron by this process: The proton and neutron must be part of a larger nucleus. In the process of electron capture, one of the orbital electron
s, usually from the K or L electron shell
(K-electron capture, also K-capture, or L-electron capture, L-capture), is captured by a proton in the nucleus, forming a neutron
and a neutrino
.
Since the proton is changed to a neutron in electron capture, the number of neutrons increases by 1, the number of protons decreases by 1, and the atomic mass
number remains unchanged. By changing the number of protons, electron capture transforms the nuclide
into a new element
. The atom, although still neutral in charge, now exists in an energetically excited state
with the inner shell missing an electron. While transiting to the ground state, the atom will emit an X-ray photon (a type of electromagnetic radiation
) and/or Auger electrons, or both. Often the nucleus exists in an excited state as well, and emits a gamma ray
in order to reach the ground state energy of the new nuclide just formed.
in a 1934 paper, and then developed by Hideki Yukawa
and others. K-electron capture was first observed by Luis Alvarez
, in vanadium-48. He reported it in a 1937 paper in the Physical Review
. Alvarez went on to study electron capture in gallium-67 and other nuclides.
Note that it is one of the initial atom's own electrons that is captured, not a new, incoming electron, as might be suggested by the way the above reactions are written. Radioactive isotopes that decay by pure electron capture can, in theory, be inhibited from radioactive decay if they are fully ion
ized ("stripped" is sometimes used to describe such ions). It is hypothesized that such elements, if formed by the r-process
in exploding supernova
e, are ejected fully ionized and so do not undergo radioactive decay as long as they do not encounter electrons in outer space. Anomalies in elemental distributions are thought to be partly a result of this effect on electron capture.
Chemical bonds can also affect the rate of electron capture to a small degree (in general, less than 1%) depending on the proximity of electrons to the nucleus. For example in 7Be, a difference of 0.9% has been observed between half-lives in metallic and insulating environments. This relatively large effect is due to the fact that beryllium is a small atom whose valence electrons are close to the nucleus.
Around the elements in the middle of the periodic table
, isotopes that are lighter than stable isotopes of the same element tend to decay through electron capture, while isotopes heavier than the stable ones decay by electron emission.
For a full list, see the table of nuclides
.
Electron capture is the primary decay mode for isotope
Isotope
Isotopes are variants of atoms of a particular chemical element, which have differing numbers of neutrons. Atoms of a particular element by definition must contain the same number of protons but may have a distinct number of neutrons which differs from atom to atom, without changing the designation...
s with a relative superabundance of proton
Proton
The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number....
s in the nucleus
Atomic nucleus
The nucleus is the very dense region consisting of protons and neutrons at the center of an atom. It was discovered in 1911, as a result of Ernest Rutherford's interpretation of the famous 1909 Rutherford experiment performed by Hans Geiger and Ernest Marsden, under the direction of Rutherford. The...
, but with insufficient energy difference between the isotope and its prospective daughter (with one less positive charge) for the nuclide to decay by emitting a positron
Positron
The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. The positron has an electric charge of +1e, a spin of ½, and has the same mass as an electron...
. Electron capture also exists as a viable decay mode for radioactive isotopes with sufficient energy to decay by positron emission
Positron emission
Positron emission or beta plus decay is a type of beta decay in which a proton is converted, via the weak force, to a neutron, releasing a positron and a neutrino....
, where it competes with positron emission. It is sometimes called inverse beta decay, though this term can also refer to the capture of a neutrino
Neutrino
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
through a similar process.
If the energy difference between the parent atom and the daughter atom is less than 1.022 MeV
MEV
MeV and meV are multiples and submultiples of the electron volt unit referring to 1,000,000 eV and 0.001 eV, respectively.Mev or MEV may refer to:In entertainment:* Musica Elettronica Viva, an Italian musical group...
, positron emission is forbidden because not enough decay energy
Decay energy
The decay energy is the energy released by a radioactive decay. Radioactive decay is the process in which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by emitting ionizing particles and radiation...
is available to allow it, and thus electron capture is the sole decay mode. For example, rubidium
Rubidium
Rubidium is a chemical element with the symbol Rb and atomic number 37. Rubidium is a soft, silvery-white metallic element of the alkali metal group. Its atomic mass is 85.4678. Elemental rubidium is highly reactive, with properties similar to those of other elements in group 1, such as very rapid...
-83 (37 protons, 46 neutrons) will decay to krypton
Krypton
Krypton is a chemical element with the symbol Kr and atomic number 36. It is a member of Group 18 and Period 4 elements. A colorless, odorless, tasteless noble gas, krypton occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, is isolated by fractionally distilling liquified air, and is often used with other...
-83 (36 protons, 47 neutrons) solely by electron capture (the energy difference, or decay energy, is about 0.9 MeV).
Note that a free proton cannot normally be changed to a free neutron by this process: The proton and neutron must be part of a larger nucleus. In the process of electron capture, one of the orbital electron
Electron
The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton...
s, usually from the K or L electron shell
Electron shell
An electron shell may be thought of as an orbit followed by electrons around an atom's nucleus. The closest shell to the nucleus is called the "1 shell" , followed by the "2 shell" , then the "3 shell" , and so on further and further from the nucleus. The shell letters K,L,M,.....
(K-electron capture, also K-capture, or L-electron capture, L-capture), is captured by a proton in the nucleus, forming a neutron
Neutron
The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of...
and a neutrino
Neutrino
A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
.
| → |
Since the proton is changed to a neutron in electron capture, the number of neutrons increases by 1, the number of protons decreases by 1, and the atomic mass
Atomic mass
The atomic mass is the mass of a specific isotope, most often expressed in unified atomic mass units. The atomic mass is the total mass of protons, neutrons and electrons in a single atom....
number remains unchanged. By changing the number of protons, electron capture transforms the nuclide
Nuclide
A nuclide is an atomic species characterized by the specific constitution of its nucleus, i.e., by its number of protons Z, its number of neutrons N, and its nuclear energy state....
into a new element
Chemical element
A chemical element is a pure chemical substance consisting of one type of atom distinguished by its atomic number, which is the number of protons in its nucleus. Familiar examples of elements include carbon, oxygen, aluminum, iron, copper, gold, mercury, and lead.As of November 2011, 118 elements...
. The atom, although still neutral in charge, now exists in an energetically excited state
Excited state
Excitation is an elevation in energy level above an arbitrary baseline energy state. In physics there is a specific technical definition for energy level which is often associated with an atom being excited to an excited state....
with the inner shell missing an electron. While transiting to the ground state, the atom will emit an X-ray photon (a type of electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation
Electromagnetic radiation is a form of energy that exhibits wave-like behavior as it travels through space...
) and/or Auger electrons, or both. Often the nucleus exists in an excited state as well, and emits a gamma ray
Gamma ray
Gamma radiation, also known as gamma rays or hyphenated as gamma-rays and denoted as γ, is electromagnetic radiation of high frequency . Gamma rays are usually naturally produced on Earth by decay of high energy states in atomic nuclei...
in order to reach the ground state energy of the new nuclide just formed.
History
The theory of electron capture was first discussed by Gian-Carlo WickGian-Carlo Wick
Gian Carlo Wick was an Italian theoretical physicist who made important contributions to quantum field theory...
in a 1934 paper, and then developed by Hideki Yukawa
Hideki Yukawa
né , was a Japanese theoretical physicist and the first Japanese Nobel laureate.-Biography:Yukawa was born in Tokyo and grew up in Kyoto. In 1929, after receiving his degree from Kyoto Imperial University, he stayed on as a lecturer for four years. After graduation, he was interested in...
and others. K-electron capture was first observed by Luis Alvarez
Luis Alvarez
Luis W. Alvarez was an American experimental physicist and inventor, who spent nearly all of his long professional career on the faculty of the University of California, Berkeley...
, in vanadium-48. He reported it in a 1937 paper in the Physical Review
Physical Review
Physical Review is an American scientific journal founded in 1893 by Edward Nichols. It publishes original research and scientific and literature reviews on all aspects of physics. It is published by the American Physical Society. The journal is in its third series, and is split in several...
. Alvarez went on to study electron capture in gallium-67 and other nuclides.
Reaction details
| Examples: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| → | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| → | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| → | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note that it is one of the initial atom's own electrons that is captured, not a new, incoming electron, as might be suggested by the way the above reactions are written. Radioactive isotopes that decay by pure electron capture can, in theory, be inhibited from radioactive decay if they are fully ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
ized ("stripped" is sometimes used to describe such ions). It is hypothesized that such elements, if formed by the r-process
R-process
The r-process is a nucleosynthesis process, likely occurring in core-collapse supernovae responsible for the creation of approximately half of the neutron-rich atomic nuclei that are heavier than iron. The process entails a succession of rapid neutron captures on seed nuclei, typically Ni-56,...
in exploding supernova
Supernova
A supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
e, are ejected fully ionized and so do not undergo radioactive decay as long as they do not encounter electrons in outer space. Anomalies in elemental distributions are thought to be partly a result of this effect on electron capture.
Chemical bonds can also affect the rate of electron capture to a small degree (in general, less than 1%) depending on the proximity of electrons to the nucleus. For example in 7Be, a difference of 0.9% has been observed between half-lives in metallic and insulating environments. This relatively large effect is due to the fact that beryllium is a small atom whose valence electrons are close to the nucleus.
Around the elements in the middle of the periodic table
Periodic table
The periodic table of the chemical elements is a tabular display of the 118 known chemical elements organized by selected properties of their atomic structures. Elements are presented by increasing atomic number, the number of protons in an atom's atomic nucleus...
, isotopes that are lighter than stable isotopes of the same element tend to decay through electron capture, while isotopes heavier than the stable ones decay by electron emission.
Common examples
Some common radioisotopes that decay by electron capture include:| Radioisotope | Half-life |
|---|---|
| 53.28 d | |
| 35.0 d | |
| 1.03E5 a | |
| 52 a | |
| 337 d | |
| 27.7 d | |
| 3.7E6 a | |
| 2.6 a | |
| 271.8 d | |
| 6.10 d | |
| 3.260 d | |
| 270.8 d | |
| 8.5 d |
For a full list, see the table of nuclides
Table of nuclides
The tables listed below provide information on the basic properties of all nuclides.* Neutron + Element 1 - Element 24 * Element 25 - Element 48 * Element 49 - Element 72...
.
External links
-
The LIVEChart of Nuclides - IAEA with filter on electron capture, in Java or HTML