Tritium Decay- Missing Electron

[Tim330]

3 1 T → 3 2 He1+ + e− + νe

After buying a tritium glow in the dark keychain as a stocking filler I was reading the decay equation on wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritium

I understand that tritium containing 2 neutrons, 1 proton and 1 electron changes into Helium 3 which contains 2 protons, 1 neutron and 2 electrons.

The above equation though appears to be 1 electron short. It shows production of a Helium 3 ion. Does the helium 3 ion pick up an electron from somewhere? What am I missing? (chemistry grad class of 2004 & not used much since!)

[hairykrishna]

It's not one electron short though - as you note, the reaction results in the production of a positive 3He ion and an electron i.e. two electrons total. The He ion is one electron 'short' and will combine with a free electron at some point.

[Tim330]

Thanks. It was the combining with the free electron that made me question the equation. The keyrings are quite cool too although not very bright.