Question

Hey Guys_________________☺☺☺ What are ALPHA & BETA RAYS ??!! ☺☺

Answer 1

Three types of radioation - Alpha, Beta, Gamma. There are three primary types of radiation: Alpha - these are fast moving helium atoms. They have high energy, typically in the MeV range, but due to their large mass, they are stopped by just a few inches of air, or a piece of paper.

Answer 2

Alpha and Beta radiation are common types of radiation. The alphas and the betas have distinct properties, one of the most important is that they are little particles which are created with a starting velocity, and they slow down. Since they are continuously slowing down, eventually they will stop, and will have a finite range.

Alphas Particles

Alpha particles are the emitted by heavy isotopes and consist of two protons and two neutrons. Often an alpha particle is referred to as a Helium nucleus. The typical energy of an alpha particle is around 4 to 8 MeV. A MeV (pronounced Em ee Vee) is an abbreviation for a million electron volt of energy, which is not a terribly intuitive unit for most people. The MeV is a unit of energy, but an every day analogy might be to think of the weight of a car or a truck 1 ton is on the light side, and so is 1 MeV of particle energy. 10 tons of truck is respectable, so is 20 tons. By comparison 20MeV is a far whack of energy for most particles. Particle energies can go a lot higher, but you won’t find them around outside a laboratory or in outer space. This might sound like a fairly weird comparison, but when I was little, we always talked of “doing a ton” meaning travelling100 mph. If that’s still too weird, think of the radiation and ignore the energy: “that’s a 6 or a 7 alpha particle”.

Betas Particles

Beta particles are high energy electrons produced form radioactive isotopes. Most beta energies are less than 1 MeV, but there are a few higher energy beta particle emitters.

Both alpha particles and beta particles have an electric charge. This means that an alpha particle and a beta particle are continually influenced by the electrons of the material that they are traveling through. Because they are charged an alpha particle and a beta particle will continuously loose energy and slow down in any material. Because of that, beta particles and alpha particles have a finite distinct range.