RADIATION

ALPHA, BETA AND GAMMA RAYS

AND NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL ISOTOPES

GROUP 2 IV- Amethyst

Types of Ionizing Radiation

The

three major types of radiation are alpha, beta, and gamma.

ALPHA RADIATION
Alpha radiation occurs when a helium nucleus is emitted from a radioactive source.
Alpha particles are positively charged and are symbolized with the Greek letter . Alpha particles are not very penetrating. They can be stopped by a sheet of paper.

BETA RADIATION

Beta radiation is created when a neutron breaks apart into a proton which remains in the nucleus, and a fast moving electron which is released from the nucleus. Beta particles are negatively charged. They are the size of an electron and can penetrate through about 4 mm of body tissue, but they can be stopped by metal foil.

GAMMA RADIATION

Gamma rays are high energy photons that are emitted from the nucleus of radioactive atoms.
Nuclei often emit gamma rays along with alpha or beta particles during radioactive decay. One example is the disintegration of Thorium-230 to Radium-226. Gamma particles have no charge, are extremely penetrating, and can even go through several centimeters of lead and several meters of concrete.

ERNEST RUTHERFORD studied the nature of the radiation. He discovered the alpha , beta and gamma rays.

Alpha, beta particles and gamma rays

Properties of nuclear radiation

Type
Alpha (a)

Representation

Properties
Consist of two protons and two neutrons, or, the nucleus of a helium atom. They carry a positive charge of +2e. They are massive, but slow moving end their maximum speed is about 0.1% the speed of light c. Alpha particles have very little penetrating power; they can penetrate no more than a few centimetres of air and absorbed by thick paper. However, alpha rays are able to ionize a large number of atoms within the small area they were able to penetrate.

Particle radiation

Beta (B)
particle radiation

Beta radiation consists of electrons. A beta particle is emitted from the nucleus when a neutron becomes a proton and vice versa. The beta particle carries a charge of + / - e. Beta particles travel a little less than the speed of light or ~0.9c. They can penetrate paper or several millimetres of skin and about 1- metre of air. They are absorbed by aluminum or Perspex, a few millimetres thick. Their ionizing capacity is less than that of alpha radiation.
A form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation that travels at the speed of light, c. It has no electrical charge and has great penetrating power. Not even a thick piece of lead or concrete will stop all of them, although, their ionizing capacity is smaller than that of beta rays.

Gamma (y) ray photons

NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL ISOTOPES

Naming the Nuclides

The results of Rutherfords alpha scattering experiment were accounted for by proposing that an atom consist of positive core called nucleus. The atom of an element is electrically neutral the nucleus contains the protons and neutrons and a number of electrons equal to the number of protons reside outside the nucleus. In 1902, Ernest Rutherford and Frederic Soddy first proposed that radioactivity produces new elements. This idea led physicists and chemists to discover various elements. These new elements however, turned out to be chemically identical to other known elements although they have different atomic masses. In 1913, Soddy proposed that an element could have different forms with different atomic masses. He gave the name isotope to any one of the forms of the given element. It was later found that most elements have two or more isotopes, Some isotopes were stable, while others are not. Even the simplest element, hydrogen. Has two stable isotopes namely. ordinary hydrogen and deuterium, and one unstable isotope, tritium.

When referring to the nucleus of an atom, the term nuclide is used. Nuclides may represented by the symbol
A Z

mass number

4 2

atomic number

He

Element
symbol

Nuclear Stability
Atomic nuclei having even number of neutrons and protons are stable. Those with even number of neutrons and protons are stable. Those with even numbers of neutrons and odd number of protons, or odd number of both protons and neutrons, are usually unstable. Around 1 800 different isotopes have been observed, but only 264 of these are stable. Of the 264 isotope, 157 have an even number of protons and neutrons.

Atomic nuclei consist of protons and neutrons bound together by the residual strong force. Because protons are positively charged, they repel each other. Neutrons, which are electrically neutral, stabilize the nucleus in two ways. Their copresence pushes protons slightly apart, reducing the electrostatic repulsion between the protons, and they exert the attractive nuclear force on each other and on protons. For this reason, one or more neutrons are necessary for two or more protons to be bound into a nucleus. As the number of protons increases, so does the ratio of neutrons to protons necessary to ensure a stable nucleus (see graph at right). For example, although the neutron:proton ratio of 32He is 1:2, the neutron:proton ratio of 23892U is greater than 3:2. A number of lighter elements have stable nuclides with the ratio 1:1 (Z = N). The nuclide 4020Ca (calcium-40) is the heaviest stable nuclide with the same number of neutrons and protons; all heavier stable nuclides contain more neutrons than protons.

Periodic table colored according to the number of stable isotopes. Elements with odd atomic numbers have only one or two stable isotopes, while elements with even atomic numbers all have three or more stable isotopes, except for the first three: helium, beryllium, and carbon.

Periodic table with elements colored according to the half-life of their most stable isotope. Stable elements; Radioactive elements with very long-lived isotopes. Their half-live of over four million years confers them very small, if not negligible radioactivities; Radioactive elements that may present low health hazards. Their most stable isotopes have half-lives between 800 and 34.000 years. Because of this, they usually have some commercial applications; Radioactive elements that are known to pose high safety risks. Their most stable isotopes have half-lifes between one day and 103 years. Their radioactivities confers them little potential for commercial uses; Highly radioactive elements. Their most stable isotopes have half-lifes between one day and several minutes. They pose severe health risks. Few of them receive uses outside basic research; Extremely radioactive elements. Very little is known about these elements due to their extreme instability and radioactivitiy.

And thats the report of group 2 thank you!!! Any questions regarding this?