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binbagsss
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-Caesium 137 is an unstable isomer and decays into (95% of nuclear decyas) Ba-137m via beta decay which then decays into Ba-137 via gamma ray emission.
I have a couple of questions from this:
1) Am I correct in thinking that radioactivty can basically be classified into two types :
i)an unstable nucleus (dictated by the ratio of proton number to nucleon number)
ii) an excited atom - occupying an energy level other than its ground.
and so in the above case, the first decay is an example of an unstable nucleus decaying into a more stable nucleus(situation i), whereas the second case is simply a result of the barium 137 being fromed in an excited state and thus can only ocupy this state for a limited amount of time - the transiition occurring via emission of a gamma ray(situation ii).
2) So also, that i includes beta and alpha radation only (and not gamma) whereas ii includes only gamma photons (and not beta and alpha).
3) Also in case ii) if one is to measure the half-life of Ba-137m are you basically measuring the lifetime of its metastable energy state?
Many Thanks for any assistance !
I have a couple of questions from this:
1) Am I correct in thinking that radioactivty can basically be classified into two types :
i)an unstable nucleus (dictated by the ratio of proton number to nucleon number)
ii) an excited atom - occupying an energy level other than its ground.
and so in the above case, the first decay is an example of an unstable nucleus decaying into a more stable nucleus(situation i), whereas the second case is simply a result of the barium 137 being fromed in an excited state and thus can only ocupy this state for a limited amount of time - the transiition occurring via emission of a gamma ray(situation ii).
2) So also, that i includes beta and alpha radation only (and not gamma) whereas ii includes only gamma photons (and not beta and alpha).
3) Also in case ii) if one is to measure the half-life of Ba-137m are you basically measuring the lifetime of its metastable energy state?
Many Thanks for any assistance !
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