Tritium Decay- Missing Electron

Tritium Decay- Missing Electron

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Tim330

Original Poster:

1,125 posts

211 months

Friday 19th December 2014
quotequote all
3 1 T → 3 2 He1+ + e− + νe

After buying a tritium glow in the dark keychain as a stocking filler I was reading the decay equation on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium

I understand that tritium containing 2 neutrons, 1 proton and 1 electron changes into Helium 3 which contains 2 protons, 1 neutron and 2 electrons.

The above equation though appears to be 1 electron short. It shows production of a Helium 3 ion. Does the helium 3 ion pick up an electron from somewhere? What am I missing? (chemistry grad class of 2004 & not used much since!)

hairykrishna

13,158 posts

202 months

Friday 19th December 2014
quotequote all
It's not one electron short though - as you note, the reaction results in the production of a positive 3He ion and an electron i.e. two electrons total. The He ion is one electron 'short' and will combine with a free electron at some point.

Tim330

Original Poster:

1,125 posts

211 months

Friday 19th December 2014
quotequote all
Thanks. It was the combining with the free electron that made me question the equation. The keyrings are quite cool too although not very bright.