| Internal Conversion |
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This article is about the nuclear process. For the chemical process, see Internal Conversion (chemistry) Internal conversion is a Radioactive Decay process where an excited nucleus interacts with an electron in one of the lower electron shells causing the electron to be emitted. This is '''not''' to be confused with an photoelectric effect where an photon emitted from the nucleus interacts the electron. After the electron has been emitted, the atom is left with a vacancy in one of the inner electron shells. This hole will be filled with an electron from one of the higher shells and subsequently an X-ray or Auger Electron will be emitted. Internal conversion is favoured when the energy gap between nuclear levels is small, and is also the only mode of de-excitation for 0+ -> 0+ (i.e. E0) transitions. It is the predominant mode of de-excitation whenever the initial and final spin states are the same, but the multi-polarity rules for nonzero initial and final spin states do not necessarily forbid the emission of a gamma ray in such a case. The tendency towards internal conversion can be determined by the Internal Conversion Coefficient , which is empirically determined by the ratio of de-excitations that go by the emission of electrons to those that go by gamma emission. REFERENCES 1 EXTERNAL LINKS
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