Can Teflon Stop Alpha Particles?

[Northprairieman]

Hi there,

I know that alpha particles will pass through gold foil if it is thin enough, but will alpha particles pass through a layer of teflon? If so, is there some way of knowing how thin the teflon should be for most alpha particles to pass through?

 

[Bob S]

See discussion on alpha particle range and numbers in

https://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=438781

Bob S

 

[Northprairieman]

Thanks! What about protons? Do you know how much of a material protons pass through?

 

[Bob S]

Thanks! What about protons? Do you know how much of a material protons pass through?

Here is a pay-per-view paper. You can find other papers by Googling proton range energy tables (or plots)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WBB-4DBJ5S3-1&_user=10&_coverDate=09/30/1982&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=d14ea049e104a271f762ed8a4182daee&searchtype=a

Here is the Lawrence Berkeley Lab Particle Data Group reference on Passage of Particles through Matter

http://pdg.lbl.gov/2009/reviews/rpp2009-rev-passage-particles-matter.pdf

THis includes the equation for the Bethe-Bloch dE/dx ionization energy loss. You will need to do a numerical integration to get proton range.

There was a very old and complete set of proton range-energy plots, UCRL-2426, but I have not seen a copy for ~50 years.

There are also programs such as GEANT4, available at http://geant4.cern.ch/

Bob S

 

[Northprairieman]

Thank you. That is very thorough.