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Electron capture - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia |
 | | Electron capture is a decay mode for isotopes that will occur when there are too many protons in the nucleus of an atom, and there isn't enough energy to emit a positron; however, it continues to be a viable decay mode for radioactive isotopes that can decay by positron emission. |
 | | In this case, one of the orbital electrons, 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, the number of neutrons increases by 1, the number of protons decreases by 1, and the atomic mass number remains unchanged. |
| en.wikipedia.org /wiki/K-capture (400 words) |
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