Various rules of thumb have seen proposed by the scientific community to expalin the mode of radioactive decay by various radioisotopes. One of the major rules is called the `n//p` ratio. If all the known isotopes of the elemnts are plotted on a graph of number of neutrons (n) versus number of protons (p), it is observed that all isotopes lying outside of a ''stable'' `n//p` ratio region are radioactive as shown fig. The graph exhibits straight line behaviour with unit slope up to `p=25`. Above `p=25`, tgose isotopes with `n//p` ratios lying above the stable region usually undergo beta decay. Very heavy isotopes `(pgt83)` are unstable because of their relativley large nuclei and they undergo alpha decay. Gamma ray emission does not involve the release of a particle. It represnts a change in an atom from a higher energy level to a lower energy level.

How would the radioisotope of magnesium with atomic mass `27` undergo radioactive decay?.

Options

A. electron capture
B. alpha decay
C. beta decay
D. gamma ray emission

Answer

c

Explanation

From the graph and the fact that the `n//p ("=no. of neutrons"//"no.of protons")` ratio for magnesium is `27//12`, which is greater than `1("=unit slope")`.