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How does the phenomenon of electron capture affect the ionisation potential of an electron within the atom?

Since the electron being captured reacts with one proton in the nucleus to give a neutron(which has a charge of $0C$) and one neutrino, I am being lead to believe that this reduction of charge causes the attraction between the electrons in the atom and the nucleus to decrease, which causes the I.P to decrease as well. Am I correct?

Edit: Please note that I have only just graduated high school.

Any help would be appreciated. Much thanks in advance :) Regards.

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If you neutralize a proton in the nucleus of an atom by electron capture, the atomic number (proton number) is reduced by one, thus the atom loses an electron from its shell and becomes a different element moving to the left in the periodic table of elements. It is well known that the ionization energy has a quasi-periodic behavior corresponding to the periods of the periodic table. In each row, it is lowest in the first column (alkali metal) and increases with atomic number until reaching the last column (noble gas). It decreases strongly in going from the noble gas to the alkali in the next (lower) row. Therefore you can expect that, in general, there is a (small) decrease in ionization energy with the described nuclear electron capture unless the considered atom happens to be an alkali metal atom, which would transmute into a noble gas atom with a substantially higher ionization energy.

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  • $\begingroup$ Okay, thanks :) Also, you have written that "...the atom loses an electron from its shell and becomes a different element moving to the left of the periodic table of elements." This might lead beginners to believe that the number of electrons in the atom governs its atomic number which tells us which element it is. I suggest you to phrase it a little differently, to avoid this possible confusion. $\endgroup$
    – user106570
    Commented Sep 7, 2016 at 1:28
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    $\begingroup$ @ Kaumudi Harikumar - I had written "...the atomic number (proton number) is reduced by one, the atom loses an electron from its shell and becomes a different element moving to the left in the periodic table of elements." This should make it clear that one positively charged proton is lost in the nucleus which has the consequence that an electron is lost in the electron shell. In order to avoid a possible confusion you envision, I inserted a THUS after the comma in this sentence. $\endgroup$
    – freecharly
    Commented Sep 8, 2016 at 18:58
  • $\begingroup$ I dunno how the addition of the word "thus" reduces the chance for confusion but alright; hopefully, the people who visit this answer will also bother to read these comments. $\endgroup$
    – user106570
    Commented Sep 10, 2016 at 2:03

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