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You eat the gamma cookie, put the beta cookie in your pocket, and hold the alpha cookie in your hand. Here's why:

Your skin will stop the alpha radiation, so it's safe to hold that cookie in your hand.

Your clothes will stop the beta, so it's safe to put that in your pocket.

And if you're going to have to eat one, you may as well eat the gamma cookie because gamma radiation is so penetrating that you'll get the same does whether you hold it in your hand, put it in your pocket or eat it.

you've sort of missed the point with this one. your right in saying that the alpha wont penetrate the skin, the beta your clothes, and the gamma will penetrate basically everything but its less that you you'd rather eat the gamma cookie because you will get dosed no matter what and more that you do not want to eat the alpha cookie. you see the same reason alpha particles dont penetrate the skin is the same reason they're extremely detrimental when ingested - far more so than gamma. its called specific ionization specific-ionization.

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What element is a radioactive element?

The radioactive element is composed of unstable nuclei that try to reach stability through emitting nuclear radiations as alpha, beta, and gamma nuclear radiations.


Does radioactive mean in science?

The atoms structure is unstable and it emits alpha or beta particles that changes the Atom


In artificial radioactivity alpha particles are used to change nonradioactive elments into radioactive elements. But why are alpha particles used in artificial radioactivity?

An explanation for the use of alpha particles to create other radioactive elements is because it is relatively easy to do. We can concentrate an element that is an alpha emitter in the laboratory, and then use the "alpha bullets" to activate another material. The Curies did this. The alternative is to build a cyclotron, which is a particle accelerator, or a nuclear reactor so the neutron flux can be used to bombard sample. These ideas were a ways down the road when the Curies were conducting their Nobel Prize winning experiments. So these clever individuals isolated materials that were alpha emitters and used them.


What two things do radioactive atoms give off when they decay?

Radioactive atoms can give off several different particles. There are three different "types" of radiation, beta, gamma, and alpha. Beta decays which give off electrons/positrons as well as gamma rays (usually). Gamma emmitters are generally meta stable particles that omit a gamma ray in order to stabilize the nuclears, and their are alpha decays which eject a alpha particle (a helium nucleus). On rarer occasions radioactive particles can also be classified as neutron emitters.


Positively charged particle consisting of 2 protons and 2 neutrons which is given off by a radioactive substance is called what?

A radiation particle consisting of two protons and two neutrons is called an Alpha Particle. Alpha Particles have the same structure as a Helium nucleus. There are three forms of radiation, Alpha (Helium nucleus), Beta (a lone electron) and Gamma (an Electromagnetic wave).

Related Questions

Is an alpha particle radioactive?

An alpha particle itself is not radioactive, but it is the result of a type of radioactive decay called (obviously) alpha decay. The alpha particle is actually a helium-4 nucleus, and it will eventually pick up a pair of electrons and become an atom of that inert or noble gas.


What is the radioactive decay of U-238?

Alpha


Does alpha decay naturally?

Yes, alpha decay occurs naturally, that is why radioactive material is dangerous, because we can't simply "turn off" the radioactive decay.


What is a beta emitter?

In physics, an alpha emitter is a radioactive substance which decays by emitting alpha particles.


Why do non-radioactive substances become radioactive when placed near a radium compound?

Radium, being radioactive, will irradiate and activate some things placed near a sample. The element radium in its "natural" form is an alpha particle emitter, and things that get hit by an alpha particle have a chance of undergoing nuclear transformation. An alpha particle, which is emitted by a 226Ra atom when it decays, is a helium-4 nucleus. It's composed of two protons and two neutrons. This is a "heavy hitter" as regards particulate radiation. It won't travel far, even in air, because it is too massive and it "runs into stuff" in scattering reactions because of its size. But when it reacts with a nucleus, things happen. That's how some materials near a radium source become radioactive.


Why does nonradioactive substances become radioactive when placed near a radium compound?

This phenomenon is rare, non obligatory. For example beryllium irradiated with alpha particles from radium emit neutrons.


What are the types of radioactive decay?

alpha, beta, gamma.


What has the weakest penetrating powers with radioactive emission?

alpha


What is the product of radioactive decay HE called?

An alpha particle


What produces a alpha wave?

If you mean "alpha radiation", that is the result of certain types of radioactive decay.


What is the heaviest of the forms of radioactive decay is?

I'm pretty sure its alpha.


How can you know that thorium-230 is radioactive?

Thorium-230 is radioactive because it undergoes alpha decay, turning into radium-226 with the release of an alpha particle. This decay process is characteristic of radioactive elements.