Alpha, Beta and Gamma Energies

[AN630078]

Homework Statement

I have a question which is probably very straightforward but I am a little uncertain.

List from largest to smallest in terms of energy an alpha particle, a beta particle and a photon of gamma radiation.

Relevant Equations

alpha, beta, gamma

Well, gamma photons are pure energy, so surely a gamma photon would have the most energy since gamma-ray photons generally have energies greater than 100 keV. An alpha particle has the highest ionising power of the three on account of its mass, it roughly has a kinetic energy of 5 MeV, whereas beta particles are smaller and have a lesser ionising power i.e less energy.

So would the correct order be gamma, alpha, beta?

 

[haruspex]

For the two massive particles you have only considered KE, which would rather depend on the source. An interstellar alpha particle could have enormous speed.
Perhaps you are supposed to consider just their rest energies?

 

[Vinh Nguyen]

It is hard to compare the energy between those rays in general as each radiation's range of energy can overlap each others. Yet, each type of radiation appears more frequently in nature in specific ranges of energy - "typical" energy - and comparing between those values can give us some insights:
For gamma rays: typically 100 keV ~ 1 MeV
For beta ray: typically around 1MeV
For alpha decay: typically around 5 MeV
So, if we were to measure a random set of gamma, beta and alpha rays, there is a high chance that E_alpha > E_beta > E_gamma