Electron capture

When we talk about something called "electron capture," we're talking about a type of chemical reaction that happens between an atom and one of the particles that surrounds it, called an electron.

You see, each atom has a bunch of electrons orbiting around it, kind of like how Earth orbits around the sun. Normally, these electrons just hang out in their little orbits, minding their own business.

But sometimes, things happen that make one of these electrons get sucked into the center of the atom, where all the protons and neutrons are. When this happens, we call it "electron capture."

Now, you might be wondering why these electrons get captured in the first place. Well, it turns out that some atoms are just really good at attracting electrons to their center. When one of these atoms is hanging out near another atom that has an electron that's just sort of floating around, it can snag that electron and pull it in close.

When this happens, the electron gets absorbed into the center of the atom, where it joins up with some of the other particles there. This can sometimes cause the atom to change into a different element entirely!

So that's the basic idea behind electron capture. It's just a fancy way of describing what happens when an atom captures one of the electrons that's orbiting around it, which can sometimes cause the atom to change into something else entirely.