What nuclear changes can matter undergo?

Question

What nuclear changes can matter undergo?

Answer 1

genetic mutation

like cancer - over populating genetic mutated cells

Answer 2

That's a pretty broad question.

"Nuclear" means "pertaining to the nucleus", or the part of an atom that contains the protons and neutrons. The defining factor for what kind of atom ("element") an atom is (gold vs lead, for example) is the number of protons. Lose or gain a proton and you have just become a different element. Change the number of neutrons and you have just become a different "isotope" of the same element as long as you didn't change protons.

The thing about isotopes is that, even within the same element, some are stable (will last forever) and some are not (they will break down in some way over time; they are "radioactive"). For example a Nitrogen atom with 7 neutrons will last forever but a Nitrogen atom 9 neutrons will only last about 7 seconds until it releases the extra neutrons to get to its happy state. The really big atoms will just outright split up into two (or more) smaller atoms.

So, to your question; you can gain or lose a proton (or a number of protons) in which case you have become a new element. You can gain or lose a neutron (or number of neutrons) in which case you are a new isotope of the same element. You can gain or lose both protons and neutrons in which case you are, again, a new element.

Also, important to note that the protons lost from one nucleus are now their own atom. Even a single proton is its own atom, an atom of Hydrogen.

A reaction where protons merge together is commonly known as fusion. If a really big atom (like Uranium or Plutonium) split up into smaller pieces it is called fission.

Some unstable isotopes like to eject two protons and two neutrons at the same time, a process called "alpha decay". The "alpha particle", two protons and two neutrons, is, in itself, a Helium atom. The weirdest one is called beta decay. The nucleus can emit an electron (also called a "beta particle"), thereby essentially turning a neutron into a proton and becoming a different element. I say it is "weird" because a neutron is not really a proton and an electron, but in this case it almost seems so.

The linked table shows all the known possible elements. It is color coded so that the red ones are always radioactive and break up very quickly, the blue ones and green ones have at least one isotope that is not radioactive at all or have an isotope that lasts a very long time (millions of years).