Complete this nuclear reaction by selecting which particle would go in the blank.
19
Ne →
10
+ OF
19
9

Missing particles: (a positron) and an electron neutrino .

The nuclear equation would be:

.

Explanation:

The mass number of a particle is the number on the top-right corner of its symbol.

The atomic number of a particle is the number on the lower-right corner of its symbol.

The nuclear reaction here resembles a beta-plus decay. The mass numbers of the two nuclei are equal. However, the atomic number of the product nucleus is lower than that of the reactant nucleus by .

A beta decay may either be a beta-plus decay or a beta-minus decay. In a beta-plus decay, a positively-charged positron and an electron neutrino would be released. On the other hand, in a beta-minus decay, a negatively-charged electron and an electron antineutrino would be released.

Electric charge needs to be conserved in nuclear reactions, including this one.

The atomic number of the nucleus on the left-hand side is , meaning that the nucleus has a charge of . On the other hand, the atomic number of the nucleus on the right-hand side shows that this nucleus carries a charge of only .

By the conservation of electric charge, the particles on the right-hand side must carry a positive charge of . That rules out the possibility of the combination of one negatively-charged electron (with a charge of ) and an electron antineutrino (with no electric charge at all.)

Hence, the only possibility is that the missing particle is a positron (and an electron neutrino , which carries no electric charge.)

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