When a neutron decays into a proton and releases an electron and an antineutrino how does the atom maintain an electron balance if it ejects the electron as beta radiation?

Answer 1

When beta minus decay occurs and a neutron is converted into a proton with the subsequent release of an electron and an antineutrino, the atom ends up with an "extra" proton in its nucleus. This changes the chemical identity of this atom. It also changes the proton-electron balance. Certainly this is understood or at least sensed in asking this question. The electron produced in the decay process leaves the nucleus at high energy; it doesn't hang around. That leaves the atom "short" an electron. Any atom that is in a state of electrostatic imbalance as the result of beta minus decay will "make arrangements" to balance itself by finding an electron somewhere. Let's jump to illustrate that point. There are a lot of "loose" electrons floating around on earth. They are everywhere. Most reside "in the ground" and just hang out there. A few will be floating around in the air, too. The reason for this is that there is a lot of static electricity being generated all around us every day. Something as simple as moving air will generate it. We even generate a lot ourselves just by moving around. But we generally don't notice it. But on a dry day, we can develop quite a static charge walking across a rug - which when then discharge by touching a door knob. Zap! Just because we don't get a shock most of the time doesn't mean we don't cause charge separation by moving. It's just that the charges are able to neutralize themselves quickly. Small static charges are in motion around us all the time. The electronics industry is painfully aware of static electricity. It damages components, and they spend millions of dollars training and equiping their workers and installing equipment in their plants to mitigate static electricity. Now back to answering the question. In the case of an atom that has undergone beta minus decay, it will "find" an electron somewhere within a short time because small amounts of charge are moving everywhere on a continuous basis. There will be an electron happening by in a very short time that this atom can "capture" and thereby neutralize itself. It does this with ease. Note that there is a bit more to this story than appears here. It involves quarks and the weak interaction. A link to the Wikipedia article on beta decay is provided.