Radioactive Decay
What are the three types of radioactive decay?
Alpha, beta and gamma decay.
For every particle there is ___________?
An antiparticle.
What are the three common types of radiation detectors?
Gieger-Mueller Tube, Scintillation Detectors & Semiconductor Detectors.
What type of radiation would be stopped by a sheet of paper?
Alpha Decay.
What is an antiparticle?
An antiparticle is an opposite/mirror image of the given particle.
If radiation is invisible, how do you think a detector would know it’s there?
Ionization/excitation.
I decay but never ask why, from unstable atoms I fly. What process am I?
Radioactive decay.
The Pauli Exclusion principle states that no more than one particle can occupy any one
quantum state.
What types of detectors do hospitals use and why?
Semiconductor and scintillation, because they offer high precision results and low radiation exposure compared to a geiger-mueller tube.
What is the difference between gamma rays and x-rays?
2. Gamma rays are produced in the nucleus whereas X-rays are not.
How is antimatter produced? Provide an example for each way.
Antimatter is produced in high energy events like cosmic ray collisions or particle
accelerators. It can also be produced naturally. For example, bananas
emit positrons!
How do radiation detectors work?
Radiation enters a material in the detector (either a gas, crystal or solid). It gives
some of its energy to atoms in that material and knocks electrons off of them,
which is known as ionization or excitation. The detectors electronics collect these
electrons or the light they produce and turn it into an electrical signal.
That signal is shown as clicks, a needle or numbers on a screen which tells us
how much radiation is there.
I’m smaller and faster, harder to block, plastic or metal can make me stop. Negative charge is what I own, what radion have I shown?
Beta particle.
When matter and antimatter collide, what happens? What is this law?
They destroy each other upon contact, converting their mass into energy. This is the law
of conservation of energy.
How does the bubble chamber work?
Charged particle enters chamber. Then the particle ionizes hydrogen atoms.
Superheated liquid boils early along the path. Tiny bubbles form along the track.
Then, the tracks are photographed.