Nuclear Physics

Beta decay is a type of radioactive decay. It comes in two "flavors" or types, and they are beta plus decay and beta minus decay. The weak interaction (or weak force, or weak nuclear force) mediates this type of decay, and it allows for a change in the nucleus of an atom. Let's look at the two types.

In beta minus decay, a neutron in an atom's nucleus will be converted into a proton. This happens when one of the down quarks which make up the neutron is converted into an up quark. As the change occurs, an electron will be ejected from the nucleus along with an antineutrino. The transmutation of an atom, an element, will have taken place. The new atom will have an atomic number 1 greater than that of the original element. This is nuclear transmutation. If you're interested in the equation, it looks like this:

n -> p + e- + -ve

In that equation, the symbols are for the neutron, proton, electron and antineutrino, respectively.

In a beta plus decay event, a proton in an atom's nucleus will be converted into a neutron. One of the up quarks in the proton will be converted into a down quark. When this change occurs, a positron will be ejected from the nucleus, along with a neutrino. An atom so affected will have its atomic number go down by 1 and it, too, will have undergone transmutation to a new element. The equation for this reaction looks like this:

p -> n + e+ +ve

In this equation, the symbols are for the proton, neutron, positron and neutrino, respectively.

Use the links below for more information on beta decay and what happens when it occurs.

Gamma Rays are electromagnetic radiation , just like light is, and it travels the speed of light, 3 x 10^8 m/s . It will always be the fastest because alpha's & beta's are particles with mass and cannot travel the speed of light. The speeds of alpha's & beta's can be different in different situations and do not always have the same speed, like gammas.

When the nucleus emits an alpha or beta particle, it is in the exited state. To return to the ground state, it has to emit energy. It emits this energy in the form of gamma rays.

There is no change in the atomic no or the mass no when it emits gamma rays, but it does decrease the energy in the nucleus when gamma rays are emitted

Most gold is made up of isotopes that have never been observed to undergo radioactive decay and therefore has no known half-life. Some synthetically prepared isotopes of gold may be radioactive and thus have a half-life, the length of which would depend on the particular isotope.

The DeBroglie wavelength of an electron with 1 eV KE and rest mass energy 0.511 MeV is 1.23 nm. This is around a thousand times smaller than a 1 eV photon. To find the DeBroglie wavelength of an electron, simply divide Planck's constant by the momentum of the electron.

The only element that was formed in the big bang was hydrogen.

However, in this compact and extremely hot area it was possible for nucleosynthesis to occur. For about three minutes, helium and a small amount of lithium (plus a smattering of deuterium, tritium and beryllium) were produced.

After about three minutes, the Universe had cooled sufficiently to halt this process.

Any other elements would be produced in a stars core or a nova/supernova explosion.

They are made by stars through nuclear fusion. While we mostly use nuclear fusion just with hydrogen into helium, the nuclear fusion process can be used to make any and every element. All elements* up to Iron, yield energy during the fusion process. To procceed above iron, the fusion process takes energy, rather then supplying it.

*minus a few select isotopes

Alpha radiation that is external to the body is not harmful because the particles are absorbed by a few centimeters of air or by the thin layer of dead cells on the skin. However, if an alpha-radiating substance enters the body by ingestion, inhalation, or other means, some of the body's internal tissues receive a high dose of ionizing radiation, causing significant damage

If I take a radioactive sample of 400 moles of an unknown substance and let it decay to the point of three half-lives I would have 50 moles left of the sample. 1/2 of what is left will decay in the next half-life. At the end of that half-life I will have 25 moles left of the unknown substance or 4/25.

An atom "becomes" radioactive when it is created. It's that simple. Radioactivity is a phenomenon associated with atoms that have unstable nuclei. The key is that the protons and neutrons that form the nucleus "don't like" the "arrangement" there and the atomic nucleus is unstable. The "ratio" of protons to neutrons in a nucleus is intrinsically unstable. The instability is something that the nucleus, when it is formed (and by whatever means), has as an innate quality. It is unstable, and it isradioactive, and at some point in time, it will undergo decay, or even spontaneous fission, in the case of certain atoms, like uranium and plutonium.

Nuclear division is the process by which a cell's nucleus divides into two daughter nuclei. This process occurs during cell division to ensure that each new cell receives a complete set of genetic information. There are two types of nuclear division: mitosis, which produces two identical daughter cells, and meiosis, which produces four genetically unique daughter cells.

a mineral used to make Glass, rocket proppellants idk what you need that for but thats what you can make it out of, you can also make batteries, and medicine

Hope this helps! :)

1. Medical
2. Industrial
3. Food sterilization
4. Smoke detectors
5. etc.

So that their on the job radiation dosage can be tracked. This is required of their employer by law. If they get a minor over exposure the employer is required to give them full paid time off proportional to the overexposure. If they get a major over exposure the employer may be liable for injury, medical treatment, or disability costs.

The film badge records may be requested as evidence in a lawsuit.

gamma

yes--consider two charged bodies (having positive charge). One body is very large in comparison to the other. The large body will induce opposite charge in the small body and thus both will attract each other

The so called god particle is the Higgs boson. The search and discovery of this particle would advance our knowledge of the universe and how it works. There is no relationship between a god or gods and the particle. This particle was named after the scientist who first theoretically proposed it. Note that "god particle" is a name used only by nonspecialists as journalists.

The LHC in Switzerland at the nuclear research center CERN was meant to find this missing and mysterious particle. It is mean to give matter its mass and other properties. The Higgs boson was supposed to be found but the test are being carried out now. The first results are negative.

Recent update: on 13th December 2011, CERN issued a press release describing the current status of the search for Higgs bosons (see related link). There still has not been a positive discovery, but the possible mass range has been restricted severely and we should know soon (at some point in 2012) whether the standard model version of the Higgs exists or not.

Update: The Higgs boson was discovered on July 4, 2012.

That would have to be at a radius that is sqrt(26) = 5.1 times the Earth's

physical radius, or about 32,486 kilometers (20,186 miles) from the center.

The idea is to divide the energy by c squared - where c is approximately 3 x 10 to the power 8 meters/second. Since all the units involved are in SI, the answer will be in kilograms.

Alpha decay decreases the atomic number by two.

Beta- decay increases the atomic number by one.

Beta+ decay decreases the atomic number by one.

Gamma decay does not change the atomic number. However, gamma decay is often incidental to a precipitating alpha or beta event that upsets the energy equilibrium in the nucleus, so the two are not unrelated.

Yes.

The number of protons in the nucleus changes.

Heated particles will also increase in kinetic energy and move faster, leading to more frequent and energetic collisions with other particles. This can cause the particles to spread out, change state (such as melting or boiling), or undergo chemical reactions.