Fluorine-18 is produced by reacting oxygen-18 with a proton, 11p. The products of this reaction are fluorine-18, a neutron, and a gamma ray. Write a nuclear equation for the production of fluorine-18.

₈O¹⁸ + ₁¹H(proton) ⇒ ₉F¹⁸ + ₀n¹(neutron) + ₀γ⁰ (gamma)

Given

Fluorine-18

Oxygen-18

Required

Nuclear equation

Solution

Radioactivity is the process of unstable isotopes to stable isotopes by decay, by emitting certain particles,  

The principle used is the sum of the atomic number and mass number before and after the decay reaction is the same

The reaction

₈O¹⁸ + ₁¹H(proton) ⇒ ₉F¹⁸ + ₀n¹(neutron) + ₀γ⁰ (gamma)