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Particle radiation is the radiation of energy by means of fast-moving subatomic particles. Particle radiation is referred to as a particle beam if the particles are all moving in the same direction, similar to a light beam. Due to the wave–particle duality, all moving particles also have wave character. Higher energy particles more easily ...
If the source of the ionizing radiation is a radioactive material or a nuclear process such as fission or fusion, there is particle radiation to consider. Particle radiation is subatomic particles accelerated to relativistic speeds by nuclear reactions.
The radiation appeared to have two different characters, the first he called "radiation" and the more penetrating one he called "radiation". After five years of additional experimental work, Rutherford and Hans Geiger determined that "the alpha particle, after it has lost its positive charge, is a Helium atom".
Ionizing radiation is also generated artificially by X-ray tubes, particle accelerators, and nuclear fission. Ionizing radiation is not immediately detectable by human senses, so instruments such as Geiger counters are used to detect and measure it.
A beta particle, also called beta ray or beta radiation (symbol β), is a high-energy, high-speed electron or positron emitted by the radioactive decay of an atomic nucleus, known as beta decay. There are two forms of beta decay, β − decay and β + decay, which produce electrons and positrons, respectively.
Beta particle-emitting substances sometimes exhibit a weak radiation with continuous spectrum that is due to bremsstrahlung (see the "outer bremsstrahlung" below). In this context, bremsstrahlung is a type of "secondary radiation", in that it is produced as a result of stopping (or slowing) the primary radiation (beta particles).
Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation.
Neutron radiation was discovered from observing an alpha particle colliding with a beryllium nucleus, which was transformed into a carbon nucleus while emitting a neutron, Be(α, n)C. The combination of an alpha particle emitter and an isotope with a large (α, n) nuclear reaction probability is still a common neutron source.