Questions tagged [radiation]
Radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. The particles or waves radiate (i.e., travel outward in all directions) from a source.
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Why are alpha particles such a prominent form of radiation and not other types of nucleon arrangement?
It is said in many textbooks that alpha decay involves emitting alpha particles, which are very stable. Indeed, the binding energy (~28.3 MeV) is higher than for $Z$-neighboring stable isotopes. But ...
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How do electrons jump orbitals?
My question isn't how they receive the energy to jump, but why. When someone views an element's emission spectrum, we see a line spectrum which proves that they don't exist outside of their orbitals (...
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Why is the spectrum of the $\beta$-decay continuous?
the spectrum of the Gamma and Alpha decays are both discrete, i.e. the $\alpha$-particles and the $\gamma$-rays take on only discrete values when emitted from a decaying nucleus.
Why is it then, that ...
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The problem of self-force on point charges
Allow me to preface this by stating that I am a high school student interested in physics and self-studying using a variety of resources, both on- and off-line, primarily GSU's HyperPhysics website, ...
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Decay of massless particles
We don't normally consider the possibility that massless particles could undergo radioactive decay. There are elementary arguments that make it sound implausible. (A bunch of the following is ...
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Where is radiation density in the Planck 2013 results?
I've been looking at the Planck 2013 cosmological parameters paper, trying to update my toy cosmology simulator with the most recent data. Most of the interesting values such as $H_0$, $\Omega_m$, ...
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How can beta plus decay be possible?
$\beta +$ decay is where a proton gets turned into a neutron and a positron and a neutrino.
However, a neutron is heavier than a proton, so obviously this reaction is endothermic. So then, why does ...
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"Dear radioactive ladies and gentlemen" - Letter by Wolfgang Pauli
In 1930, Wolfgang Pauli wrote a letter to Lise Meitner for a convention in Tübingen, considering the problem of beta decay.
Does anybody know, where to find the original letter online ?
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Is there a way to decrease the rate of nuclear Beta decay?
In that question and its answers it was mentioned that you could trigger radioactive decay by bombarding atoms with gamma rays of the right energy level (there may be other solutions I do not know ...
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What is the probability distribution for the detection times of radioactive emissions from a radioactive sample?
Assume I have a radioactive sample composed of $N$ atoms of some type A. I know that if I measure at time t the number of atoms not already decayed, this number will be given by
$$
N(t) = N_0 \exp\...
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Do nuclei emit photons?
Generally in text books they say that when a electron goes from high energy state to a lower energy state it emits photons.
My question is, it is possible that a proton that goes from high energy ...
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What exactly does the weak force do?
I know that the weak force acts on nuclei and causes decay.
But what exactly does the weak force do? Or to put it another way, why do we call it a force? Does it push the red particle of the picture ...
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How does quantization solve the ultraviolet catastrophe?
I understand how classical physics leads to the UV catastrophe. But I cannot understand how quantization solves it.
How can quantization prevent the body from radiating a lot of energy?
I know this ...
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What Happens to electrons after Alpha Decay and Nuclear Fission?
Where do the electrons go? In alpha decay do 2 electrons follow the alpha particle and make stable Helium or does the larger daughter nucleus become an anion?
Also what do the electrons do in the ...
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What did recombination look like?
I recently remembered that someone worked out what the big bang sounded like and that got me thinking...
About 377,000 years after the Big Bang, electrons became bound to nuclei to form neutral atoms....
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