In the decay ⁶⁴ Cu ⁶⁴ Ni + e⁺ + , the maximum kinetic energy carried by the positron is observed to be 0.650 MeV . Determine the energy of the neutrino that is emitted alongside a positron having a kinetic energy of 0.150 MeV .

Step-by-step solution

In beta decay, the total energy released is shared between the emitted positron and the neutrino, neglecting the small recoil energy of the daughter nucleus. The maximum kinetic energy of the positron corresponds to the case where the neutrino carries zero energy. Thus, the total energy available for the positron and neutrino is equal to the maximum kinetic energy of the positron. E_ total = K_ max (e⁺) = 0.650 MeV By conservation of energy, the sum of the kinetic energy of the positron and the energy of the neutri