Beta Definition and 384 Threads

I think I understand the impact that an alpha particle can have on living tissue. Not having electrons in it valence it would be very reactive - stripping electrons from atoms or molecules it bumps into (assuming it made its way in a biotic host). But how does a beta particle ionize an atom...

One thing that is really confusing me is Beta Particles. This site states that Beta Particles are electrons that are shot out of the nucleus (atomic core) of an atom. http://home.clara.net/darvill/nucrad/morebeta.htm To rationalize this claim it states that a neutron will decay to a...

Hello fellow physicists and mathematicians! I am 15 years of age and trying to understand beta decay. At present I understand how the proton turns into a neutron etc... The problem is I do not understand how the decay of a W- boson turns into an antineutrino. I've read that the W- boson has...

A couple of really stupid questions:( In beta minus decay, an atom release and electron (and an antineutrino). The electron, does this happen spontaneously? Doesn't the another particle have to collide or interact with the atom (be give it some momentum, or energy), to trigger the atom to...

Please look at the attached file. The first part of the question: why it doesn't decay to the GS. I think that's simply because the nuclear spin changes by 4 and therefore this decay is very supressed. But how "is it possible for the isomeric state at 140kev which decays by gamma emisson, to...

[SOLVED] beta minus decay? Hi, Here is a question from beta minus decay which i could not understand : http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/2512/59060072re9.jpg I could do the first bit but not the second. I believe that it has something to do with neutrinos and missing energy but i...

Homework Statement Consider a beta decay: \ {X_Z^A} \rightarrow\ {Y_{Z+1}^A} \ + {\beta_{-1}^{0}}\ + {\bar\nu_e} To show that the KE of the recoil nucleus is \ E = \frac{\ Q + \ 2 \ m \ c^2}{\ 2 \ M_Y \ c^2}\ {T_{max}} m and T(max) is the mass and maximum KE of beta particle...

Hi! I read in my textbook, that when there is beta radioactivity, the beta particles are "carrying" the kinetic energy from the nuclei, and they are taking the most of the kinetic energy of the nuclei, so the electrons have less energy than them... Here is diagram. I can't understand something...

Hello, I have got a assignment... there is a question what is the electron and beta rays? i have searched a lot but i cannot undersatnd it..can someone please explain me..I shall be thankful to you.. regards, samar

Homework Statement Show that β(m,n)= (m-1)!/n(n+1)...(n+m+1) where m is a +ve integer ? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Please give me a complete solution as i i asked it before but could not arrive at the solution ?

Many of us have seen how to find a vector satisfying the following conditions (i) magnitude is m (ii) makes angles alpha, beta and gamma with i,j,k vectors i.e. unit vectors along x,y and z axes. My question is can the angles be taken arbitrarily or they should satisfy some condition like...

If I have to send a beta particle in space and if the space is completely empty (from matter and energy just imagine!) What would happen to the particle? If I put a very good GM in 1 Km from the source should I detect the beta particle if the beta particle has the power of 0.5 Mev? Dose the...

Can anybody explain me the conditions for become a beta decay. for example : Md (Z=101,A=255) --> No (Z=102,A=255) + e (electron) + -Ve (anti-notrino) can this nuclear reaction be?

If we want to secure an area from beta particles, we could use absorbers, for example aluminum foils. Is it preferable to use one thick aluminum foil or several aluminum foils (with same total density as the first one of course) with free space between them? In other words, does a beta particle...

Suppose a beta particle source. Using a G.M. scintillator and several aluminium foils we can find the absorption of aluminium on beta particles. Does the absorption of aluminium changes by placing aluminium foils over or under the radioctive source? Considering for example gravity. Does gravity...

unstable nucleus with excess neutrons turns to protons, emitting electrons and electron antineutrinos,in this case protons stay in nucleus...is there any case where protons are also emitted ...

hi.. we all know a electron and a beta patricle have charge -1e .. now my question is.. when radioactivity takes place ..the nucleus emits beta particles sometimes... now can we say that the electron is being emitted from the nucleus..since both beta and electron have the same charge...

Hey I know : n = p+ + e- + (Ve) meaning that : p+ = n - e- - (Ve) = n + e+ + Ve ?? But, how does a Baryon like a proton or a neutron produce leptons ? and how this change can occur : n = p+ + e- + (Ve) u d d = u u d + e- + (Ve) How can a down quark become a Up...

lepton beta decay when m near m_W? Has anybody seen somewhere, article or textbook or website, the calculation of beta decay of a charged lepton in the generic case, when mass is neither a lot smaller nor a lot greater than the mass of the W? It should be some result interpolating between the...

This has been annoying me since I read this somewhere. Beta decay is only possible if energetically allowed. For electron emission this means: [M(A,Z) - M(A,Z+1)]c^2 >0 For positron emission this is [M(A,Z) - M(A,Z-1) - 2m_e]c^2 >0 Why the asymmetry? I would naively think that...

Beta particle counting efficiency?? Hi! Can anyone tell me what counting efficiency means? For example if it's put into a question as: "shielded beta counter with 85.7% counting efficiency, 845 counts are accumulated in one week" what does it mean? How I understand it so far is that it's...

I am new to this forum and hoping all you experts here can help explain some things that have been bugging me. In a double beta decay (any kind, with or without neutrinos), I read that the decay occurs from two separate neutrons, apparently simultaneously. Is this the case, or can one...

Hi all, Why is the beta decay graph( no. of Beta particle vs Kinetic energy) a curve(or sort of bell shape). I understand that neutrinos are emitted, even so shouldn't the KE be a constant value? Thanks

for beta decay n --> p + e- + antineutrino since neutron has quarks udd while proton has uud, only the d changes to u. is it correct to guess that it is the down quark inside the neutron which "transform" into up quark? ie d --> u + e- + antineutrino

Hi All, The question I ask is pretty elementary.Come to think of it, i am not even an academic and the industry I work in is different. The BETA of a transistor. What is it in physical terms. How do the manufacturers of the transistor decide how to put that beta into it,physically.Does it depend...

What do you all think of college honor societies? Specifically, Phi Beta Kappa, and Phi Kappa Phi? Are these things that should definitely be accepted? Or is there really no point to them? Thanks!

Homework Statement A uniform smooth plank weight W and length 2a is hinged to the bottom horizontal edge of a smooth, fixed plane inclined at angle (beta) to the horizontal. A sphere of radius (1/2)a and weight 2W is placed between the plank and the plane. Assume no friction. Prove that, in...

I was studying Beta decay in my nuclear courses few minutes ago, and something came to my attention. A nucleus can absorb an electron and undergo a beta decay like this: p + e- ----> n + neutrino Is the following one possible? n + e+ ----> p + anti-neutrino? where a nucleus absorb an...

I have is a distribution that is U-shaped, centered at 0, spanning from -A to A, and I want a means to model this, a beta distribution is the closest thing I have found to kinda do this can the beta distribution be adjusted to range from -A to A as opposed to 0 to 1? any other suggestions as...

What is the best textbook or article that really indepth explains the fermi theory, including derivation of the fermi golden rule and a good discussion of fermi functions? Most nuclear physics textbooks I have looked through seems to skim over the details :frown:

WTF GIRLS please help! Well I am in the first (university) year, so i met a girl called "beta". So i introduced myself to beta and we talked like 1 hour and she laugh, etc. so we had a good conversation. And in the next days, we crossed sometimes in the path, and she just go away without...

Nuclear Simulation- Beta Decay ?? Hi, I'm a high school sophomore, I'm having trouble finding a suitable trigger for beta decay in my nuclear simulation (for fun) :confused: :cry: :confused: . I have the strong force and electromagnetic forces all set but I've run into the problem of atoms...

Rutherford's "Gold Leaf" experiment with Beta Radiation The other day at school I was doing about Rutherford's gold leaf experiment which proved the structure of atoms. In the experiment alpha radiation was fired at a thin piece of gold, resulting in most of the radiation simply passing through...

In the 16th edition of the chart of nuclides, it lists Cu-64 as decaying to Zn-64 by beta minus decay. OK, no problem here. Then it lists Zn-64 decaying back to Cu-64 by positron decay with a half life of 1.1 x 10^19 years. Assuming this isn't some typo, I have 2 questions. 1) How in blazes did...

LaTeX extension (beta) http://www.mathphyswiki.com/index.php?title=Latex_extension Firefox only, sorry. It's supposed to help with doing latex. Some issues left. It crashes sometimes. I'm taking suggestions on anything, from adding a function to a UI overhaul. I haven't even settled on a...

In beta decay, an antibuetrino or an positron is emitted from the nucleus. how is this possible? how can antimatter come directly from matter? This is pizzling...:confused:

During radioactive decay, what determines if the emission of a beta particle will be positronic or electronic?

Recently the radation physics class I am taking reviewed decay and I wondered how beta minus decay and electron capture can both emit neutrinos. I tried asking my professor, but I do not think I explained my question well enough to him. To explain my mindset, imagine you have only one...

if beta decay is the result of ejection of electron from the decay of a neutron into a proton and electron does that mean the the resultant product nucleus would be an ion since it would hav an extra proton? and same thing when a positron is formed from decay of proton?

I was going to post this in the nuclear engineering forum but my question is really more electrical. A beta emiter is a radioactive substance which radiates electrons (beta particles) in all directions. My question is, is there a way to generate electricity from electrons traveling away...

Does anyone have a link or pointer to preferably freely available software with which I can calculate the energy spectrum of the electrons or positrons liberated in regular beta or beta+ - decay for a given isotope? My background is not in physics (chemical engineering, rather), and although I...

Hey Recently I have been studied for a physics test on Nuclear Technology. A question I came across asked me to explain the difference between the penetrating ability of the three different types of radiation, alpha, beta and gamma and explain why. I know that gamma has the highest penetrating...

Let \Sigma = { \beta,x,y,z} where \beta denotes a blank, so x\beta \neq x, \beta \beta \neq \beta, and x\betay \neq xy but x \lambday = xy. Compute each of the following: 1: \parallel \lambda \parallel 2: \parallel \lambda \lambda \parallel 3: \parallel \beta \parallel 4...

This may be better suited for the nuclear engineering forum, so feel free to move it. In decay processes that involve beta decay (or positron decay), there are pure beta emitters and mixed beta/gamma emitters. What determines whether a specific nuclide is just a pure emitter as opposed to a mixed?

I watched the elegant universe and one scienetist noticed the euler beta function seemed to explain what he was doing and it had properties of a vibrating string. So I'm wondering if I could find his original paper, explanation or some additional info.

What is a beta amino acid and how would a beta amino acid look like? I know that the beta carbon is the second carbon from the functional group but which group would be where? Can I have an example of a beta amino acid?

How could you distinguish between an alpha and a beta particle in a cloud chamber or a particle accelerator?

Hello, I would like to know the procedure in order to find the beta risk once the hypothesis test has been made. I am aware of the fact that it is efficient to set both alpha and beta prior to data collection, but, in this case, I was given the observations and an alpha value. I used the...

Hey i was just wondering if anyone could help me out and shed some light into " why is B^- decay (emission of an electron) far more common among the heavy elements than the B^+ (emission of a positron) or electron capture decays?" I am looking at a plot of Z vs. N for various nuclei and believe...

In Beta radioactive decay, how do quarks rearrange themselves in these situations? Do they do this? ß+ : 1p (2u, 1d) + energy ==> 1n (2d, 1u) + 1e- ß- : 1n (2d, 1u) ==> 1p (2u, 1d) + 1e- + energy I believe I have these right. Positive Beta decay is "endothermic" while negative...