Here is the equation for the alpha decay of radon-219 into polonium. Beta decay involves the conversion of a down quark to an up quark. This changes a neutron into a proton plus an electron.

The proton remains inside the nucleus, but the electron is ejected at high speed. This is called beta decay. Beta decay causes the atomic number of the nucleus to increase by one (because there is ...

Does the proton decay? While this was a famous prediction of Grand Unified Theories (GUTS) developed in the 1970s and 1980s, experimentalists have ruled it out—or rather, put lower limits on its ...

They are waiting for a proton to fall apart. Today, however, the proton is likely to outlast their expensive project. Seven years after it was switched on in a ...