beta particle

Examples of beta particle in the following topics:

• Modes of Radioactive Decay

  • Alpha particles carry a positive charge, beta particles carry a negative charge, and gamma rays are neutral.
  • Alpha particles have greater mass than beta particles.
  • Their massive size (compared to beta particles, for instance) means alpha particles have very low penetration power.
  • Beta particles (β) have a higher penetration power than alpha particles (they are able to pass through thicker materials such as paper).
  • Beta particles can be stopped by aluminum shielding.

• Balancing Nuclear Equations

  • Common light particles are often abbreviated in this shorthand, typically p for proton, n for neutron, d for deuteron, α representing an alpha particle or helium-4, β for beta particle or electron, γ for gamma photon, etc.
  • This fits the description of an alpha particle.
  • This could also be written out as polonium-214, plus two alpha particles, plus two electrons, give what?
  • For the atomic number, we take 84 for polonium, add 4 (two times two) for helium, then subtract two (two times -1) for two electrons lost through beta emission, to give 86; this is the atomic number for radon (Rn).
  • Describes how to write the nuclear equations for alpha and beta decay.

• Indoor Pollution: Radon

  • Radon and its daughters continue to decay in the lungs, releasing alpha and beta particles that can damage cellular DNA and result in lung cancer.

• Allotropes of Carbon

  • Amorphous graphite: fine particles, the result of thermal metamorphism of coal; sometimes called meta-anthracite
  • The two known forms of graphite, alpha (hexagonal) and beta (rhombohedral), have very similar physical properties (except that the layers stack slightly differently).
  • The alpha form can be converted to the beta form through mechanical treatment, and the beta form reverts to the alpha form when it is heated above 1300 °C.

• Root-Mean-Square Speed

  • According to Kinetic Molecular Theory, gaseous particles are in a state of constant random motion; individual particles move at different speeds, constantly colliding and changing directions.
  • We cannot gauge the velocity of each individual particle, so we often reason in terms of the particles' average behavior.
  • Particles moving in opposite directions have velocities of opposite signs.
  • Since the value excludes the particles' direction, we now refer to the value as the average speed.
  • This equation determines the average speed of a given group of gaseous particles.

• Particle Accelerator

  • A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds within well-defined beams.
  • A particle accelerator is a device that uses electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles to high speeds and to contain them in well-defined beams.
  • While current particle accelerators are focused on smashing subatomic particles together, early particle accelerators would smash entire atoms together, inducing nuclear fusion and thus nuclear transmutation.
  • This occurs either through nuclear reactions in which an outside particle reacts with a nucleus, which can be supplied by a particle accelerator, or through radioactive decay, where no outside particle is needed.
  • Electrostatic accelerators use static electric fields to accelerate particles.

• Distribution of Molecular Speeds and Collision Frequency

  • The movement of gaseous particles is characterized by straight-line trajectories interrupted by collisions with other particles or with a physical boundary.
  • Consider a closed system of gaseous particles with a fixed amount of energy.
  • In theory, this energy can be distributed among the gaseous particles in many ways, and the distribution constantly changes as the particles collide with each other and with their boundaries.
  • By understanding the nature of the particle movement, however, we can predict the probability that a particle will have a certain velocity at a given temperature.
  • As the temperature increases, the particles acquire more kinetic energy.

• Isotopes

  • Unstable isotopes most commonly emit alpha particles (He2+) and electrons.
  • This slow process, which is called beta decay, releases energy through the emission of electrons from the nucleus or positrons.

• Particle in a Box

  • No forces act on the particle inside of a box, which means that the part of the wave function between 0 and L can oscillate through space and time with the same form as a free particle:
  • Differential calculus then reveals that the energy of the particle is given by:
  • The first four solutions to the one dimensional particle in a box.
  • Energy and position relationships of the particle in a box.
  • Describe the features of the wave function for the particle in a box.

• Disaccharides

  • Notice that the glycoside bond may be alpha, as in maltose and trehalose, or beta as in cellobiose and gentiobiose.
  • A beta-glycosidase has the opposite activity.
  • This leaves the anomeric carbon in ring B free, so cellobiose and maltose both may assume alpha and beta anomers at that site (the beta form is shown in the diagram).
  • Gentiobiose has a beta-glycoside link, originating at C-1 in ring A and terminating at C-6 in ring B.
  • Lactose, also known as milk sugar, is a galactose-glucose compound joined as a beta-glycoside.