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Various rules of thumb have seen proposed by the scientific community to expalin the mode of radioactive decay by various radioisotopes. One of the major rules is called the `n//p` ratio. If all the known isotopes of the elemnts are plotted on a graph of number of neutrons (n) versus number of protons (p), it is observed that all isotopes lying outside of a 'stable' `n//p` ratio region are radioactive as shown fig.5.28. The graph exhibits straight line behaviour with unit slope up to `p=25`. Above `p=25`, tgose isotopes with `n//p` ratios lying above the stable region usually undergo beta decay. Very heavy isotopes `(pgt83)` are unstable because of their relativley large nuclei and they undergo alpha decay. Gamma ray emission does not involve the release of a particle. It represnts a change in an atom from a higher energy level to a lower energy level. Which of the following represents the relative penetrating power of the three types of radioactive emission in decreasing order?A. `betagtalphagtgamma`B. `betagtgammagtalpha`C. `gammagtalphagtbeta`D. `gammagtbetagtalpha` |
Answer» Correct Answer - d Alpha radiation consists of the largest particles (helium nuclei with a mass number of `4`, thus the greatest inertia)and are slowest (about `1//3` times the speed of the light). Beta radiation consists of smaller (electrons, `1//1370` times lighter than a proton) and faster partilces (about `4//5` times the speed of light). Gamma radiation consits of the smallest particles (photons, no mass ) which travel at the greatest speed (at the speed of light). |
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