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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. [2]
The two types of beta decay are known as beta minus and beta plus.In beta minus (β −) decay, a neutron is converted to a proton, and the process creates an electron and an electron antineutrino; while in beta plus (β +) decay, a proton is converted to a neutron and the process creates a positron and an electron neutrino. β + decay is also known as positron emission.
Tritium is a low-energy beta emitter commonly used as a radiotracer in research and in traser [check spelling] self-powered lightings. The half-life of tritium is 12.3 years. The electrons from beta emission from tritium are so low in energy (average decay energy 5.7 keV) that a Geiger counter cannot be used to detect them. An advantage of the ...
The earlier measurements by Kaufmann, Bucherer, and others had used flat parallel plate condensers which provided no focusing of the beta particles. Rogers et al. (Fig. 10) instead constructed an electrostatic spectrograph capable of resolving the energy maxima of individual beta particle lines from the radium decay series. The electrostatic ...
In each term of an electron configuration, n is the positive integer that precedes each orbital letter (helium's electron configuration is 1s 2, therefore n = 1, and the orbital contains two electrons). An atom's nth electron shell can accommodate 2n 2 electrons. For example, the first shell can accommodate two electrons, the second shell eight ...
A common example of an unstable nuclide is carbon-14 that decays by beta decay into nitrogen-14 with a half-life of about 5,730 years: 14 6 C → 14 7 N + e − + ν e. In this form of decay, the original element becomes a new chemical element in a process known as nuclear transmutation and a beta particle and an electron antineutrino are emitted.
In α decay the nucleons of the original nucleus are used to form the final state α particle (4 He). In β decay the β and neutrino particles are the result of a nucleon transformation into its isospin complement (n → p or p → n). Below is a list of the differences: The β electron and neutrino did not exist before the decay.
In theory, quadruple beta decay may be experimentally observable in three of these nuclei – 96 Zr, 136 Xe, and 150 Nd – with the most promising candidate being 150 Nd. Triple beta-minus decay is also possible for 48 Ca, 96 Zr, and 150 Nd; [37] triple beta-plus decay or electron capture is also possible for 148 Gd and 154 Dy.