How can nuclear radioactivity affect the atomic number

 Emission of nuclear radiations can affect atomic number (nuclear charge, or number of proton)  in three ways.

·       If the radioactivity is the emission of alpha particle, the atomic number will decrease by two,

·       If the process is a better decay the atomic number is affected in two ways. A beta minus better will change a neutron into proton thereby increasing the atomic number by one while a beta plus will change a proton into neutron thereby decreasing the atomic number by one.

·        A gamma ray emission does not change the atomic number (or nuclear charge) of  atoms (nuclides).