Question

Spontaneous radioactive decay occurs only when the decay products have less mass than the parent, and it tends to produce a daughter that is more stable than the parent. Explain how this is related to the fact that more tightly bound nuclei are more stable. (Consider the binding energy per nucleon.)

Short answer

The binding energy per nucleon increases the stability of the nucleus.

Step-by-step solution

Definition of Radioactive decay

The process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy through radiation is known as radioactive decay. A radioactive material is one that contains unstable nuclei. Alpha decay, beta decay, and gamma decay are three of the most common types of decay, all of which involve the emission of one or more particles.

Explanation

Radioactive decay refers to the process of emitting radiation from an atom's unstable nucleus. As we all know, radioactive decay involves the spontaneous destruction of the mass of the nucleus, which results in the emission of radiations. The stability of the daughter nucleus is greater than that of the parent nucleus.

Because coulomb repulsion between protons and nuclear attraction cause binding energy and nucleons to be proportional, the binding energy per nucleon is greatest when the number of nucleons is around 60. This type of nucleus is tightly bound and stable.