Verified Answer :

Positrons are spontaneously emitted from the nuclei of potassium -37.

Answer: Option (1) is the correct answer.

Explanation:

  • A positron is a small particle which contains a +1 charge and its mass is equal to the mass of an electron, that is, \(9.109 \times 10^{-31}\) kg.

A positron is represent by the symbol \(^{0}_{+1}\beta\).

For example, \(^{37}_{19}K \rightarrow ^{37}_{18}Ar + ^{0}_{+1}\beta\)

  • Whereas nitrogen-16 does not decay to give a positron because nitrogen-16 is the daughter isotope formed due to decay of oxygen-16.

The decay reaction is as follows.

           \(^{16}_{8}O \rightarrow ^{16}_{7}N + ^{0}_{+1}\beta\)

  • And, on radioactive decay of thorium-232 there will be formation of radium-228 along with emission of an alpha particle.

The reaction will be as follows.

            \(^{232}_{90}Th \rightarrow ^{228}_{88}Ra + ^{4}_{2}\alpha\)

Therefore, we can conclude that out of the given options positrons are spontaneously emitted from the nuclei of potassium-37.

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