The smallest functional and structural unit of an organism, usually microscopic and consisting of cytoplasm and a nucleus in a membrane.
The atomic mass number does<span> not change because a </span>beta<span> particle has a much smaller </span>mass<span> than the </span>atom<span>. The </span>atomic number<span> goes up because a neutron has turned into an extra proton. </span>Beta decay<span> is fundamentally different from alpha </span>decay<span>. An alpha particle is made of two protons and two neutrons.</span>