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Which phenomenon causes spontaneous alpha decay in heavy nuclei shells with unstable orbital configurations?

A)Quantum tunneling through potential barrier
B)Electron capture altering shell stability
C)Neutron emission creating orbital vacancies
D)Gamma decay inducing nuclear excitation

💡 Explanation

When alpha decay happens in nuclides with unstable configurations, quantum tunneling occurs because the alpha particle has a probability to penetrate the potential energy barrier. Therefore, quantum tunneling results, rather electron capture, neutron emission, gamma decay, all which require different underlying nuclear processes.

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