I've just finished studying alpha decay, and found it quite simple...but beta decay is eluding me. How does a neutron change into a proton with the emission of an electron...it doesn't matter what the charge of the electron is beta minus or beta plus decay (obviously a positron with beta plus) but what is happening to the neutron to create a new element.

 

I guess I'm missing something, but I thought photons only effected the position / speed et.c of electrons. Or does this decay have nothing to do with the absorption of photons ?

As you probably know, a neutron contains two down quarks and one up quark. Simply put for the beta decay, when one down quark is turned into an up quark, the neutron "loses" a -1/3 charge and "gains" a +2/3, in total increasing it's charge by 1.

 

Edit: If you want to know about all the more specific stuff with the W-bosons and antineutrinos and what not I recommend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beta_decay

Thanks Gilded ! I'm yet to study the weak nuclear force (properly), but that's made it a lot clearer.

Glad I could help! I have myself done lots of independent study (which sometimes in my opinion is the best way to learn) on radioactivity and related subjects, before I even had the first lessons of it in school. It also lead to acquiring some uranium ore and a tritium key chain (lots of beta minus going on in there), which some people have been suspicious about.

Cool, I was studying the decay of a lead nucleus to a bismuth nucleus...I guess I don't like having explanations laid out as gospel. I like to know why these interactions are happening, so alongside my degree (or at present my current study of beta decay) I can look at the interactions of Z and W bosons. Thanks again for the help.