Editing Neutron emission (section)

{{Short description|Type of radioactive decay}}
{{One source|date=March 2016}}
{{Nuclear physics}}'''Neutron emission''' is a mode of [[radioactive decay]] in which one or more [[neutron]]s are ejected from a [[Atomic nucleus|nucleus]].<ref>{{Citation |last=Guinn |first=Vincent P. |title=Radioactivity |date=2003 |work=Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology |pages=661–674 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/neutron-emission |access-date=2025-04-26 |publisher=Elsevier |language=en |doi=10.1016/B0-12-227410-5/00643-8 |isbn=978-0-12-227410-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> It occurs in the most neutron-rich/proton-deficient [[nuclides]], and also from excited states of other nuclides as in [[photodisintegration|photoneutron emission]] and beta-delayed neutron emission. As only a neutron is lost by this process the number of [[proton]]s remains unchanged, and an atom does not become an atom of a different element, but a different [[isotope]] of the same element.<ref>{{Cite web |title=What is radiation? |url=https://www.arpansa.gov.au/understanding-radiation/what-is-radiation/ionising-radiation/radiation-decay |url-status=live |website=www.arpansa.gov.au/}}</ref>

Neutrons are also produced in the [[spontaneous fission|spontaneous]] and [[nuclear fission|induced fission]] of certain heavy nuclides.