PROPERTIES OF DIFFERENT IONIZING RADIATIONS.

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      Ionizing radiation is a radiation with enough energy capable of removing tightly bound electrons from the orbit of an atom during an interaction with an atom, causing the atom to become charged or ionized. Examples are beta rays, gamma particles, cosmic rays, x-rays, ultraviolet light, beta particle.

1. DIFFERENT PROPERTIES OF IONIZING RADIATION

X-radiation:                                                                                                                                                       
(a) They are capable of travelling in a vacuum.
(b) It requires high voltage to produce x-rays.
(c) They have a shorter wavelength of the electromagnetic spectrum than UV rays and longer than gamma rays.
(d) They travel in a straight light and do not carry an electric charge with them.
(e) They are used to capture the human skeleton defects
(f) They are produced extra nuclearly.
(g) They are photons with low energy range of 120eV to 120eV
 
Gamma rays:
(a) They are produced by a number of astronomical processes in which very high- energy electrons are produced.
(b) They hold the highest power of penetration but at least ionizing and very difficult to resist them from entering the body.
(c) Gamma rays frequently accompany the emission of alpha and beta radiation.
(d) Gamma rays are emitted by the nucleus.
(e) Gamma rays travel at the speed of light and can travel thousands of meters in air before spending their energy.
(f) Gamma rays have three interaction mechanisms with matter which are photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, and pair production.
(g) It ionizes matter primarily via indirect ionization.
(h) They have high-energy photons about 10,000 times as much energy as the visible light.
 
Beta radiation:
(a) Beta rays are negatively charged and have a negligible mass.
(b) They have high energy electrons which are released from the inside of a nucleus.
(c) Beta particles have a greater penetration power than the alpha particles and can easily travel through the skin.
(d) In beta radiation low atomic number (Z) materials are appropriate as beta particle shields due to the presence of the bremsstrahlung.
(e) The beta emission has the continuous spectrum.
(f) A 1 MeV beta particle can travel approximately 3.5 meters in air.
(g) When the beta particle moves faster than the speed of light (phase velocity) in the material it generates a shock wave of electromagnetic radiation known as Cherenkov radiation. 
Cosmic rays:
(a) They are high-energy protons that originate from the sun, and outside of the solar systemic.
(b) Upon impact with the earth’s atmosphere, cosmic rays can produce showers of secondary particles that sometimes reach the surface.
(c) About 99% are simple nuclei of well-known atoms, and about 1% is solitary electrons similar to alpha particles.
(d) They blaze at the speed of light and have been blamed for electronic problems in the satellite.
 
Ultraviolet light:
(a) The wavelength of ultraviolet waves is -1 x 10^-8 to -4 x 10^-7 meters.
(b) The frequency of ultraviolet waves is -7.5 x 10¹⁴ to -3 x 10¹⁶ Hz.
(c) The wavelengths of ultraviolet are shorter than the visible light.
(d) Thick clouds can block UV rays.
(e) A UV light is used as a disinfectant in hospitals and labs.
(f) The near-ultraviolet is the closest to the visible light.
(g) The far-ultraviolet lies between near and extreme ultraviolet regions.
 
 
Protons:
(a) The mass of a proton is 1.673×10^-24 g.
(b) The charge of a proton is positive, and is assigned a value of +1.
(c) The electron has a -1 charge, and is 2,000 times lighter than a proton.
(d) The atomic number of protons determines the chemical identity of an atom.
(e) The processes involving changes in the number of protons are referred to as nuclear reaction.
 
Neutrons:
(a) The mass of neutron is 939.565MeV/c^2.
(b) They are neutral particles.
(c) They have a mean square radius of ~0.8×10^-15 m (0.8 Fermi).
(d) They have non-zero magnetic moment.
 
Alpha particles:
(a) Alpha particles consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus.
(b) They are mainly produced in the process of alpha decay.
(c) They are named after the Greek alphabet α.
(d) The symbol for alpha is α or α²⁺
(e) The alpha particles, like helium nuclei, have a net spin of zero.