Beta Decay Charge Conservation

[Saraharris38]

Hey so, I was just wondering:

If Carbon-14 (6 protons, 8 neutrons) decays into an electron, a neutrino, and Nitrogen 14 (7 protons, 7 neutrons) How is charge conserved? I get that nucleons are conserved, but if nitrogen-14 is neutral, then it has 7 protons and 7 electrons, versus Carbon, which had 6 protons and 6 electrons, so is this extra electron the one that comes from the decay of the neutron and is subsequently emitted? In this case, wouldn't Nitrogen-14 have 7 protons and 6 electrons (after the beta particle is emitted), and be an ion with a net positive charge of +1e? Thanks!

 

[bcrowell]

This is a nuclear process. The cloud of electrons surrounding the nucleus is just spectators.

The original state has 6 protons. The final state has 7 protons plus an electron, for the same total charge.

The extra electron won't even stay associated with the same atom. The atom will probably be highly ionized after the decay.