Nuclear Radiation Research Paper

How a Geiger counter works is when Radiation is moving around randomly or coming out of a tested radioactive substance outside the detector tube, the radiation enters the gap on the end of the tube. When the radioactive nuclei and the inert gas molecules(this is found in the tube) bump into each other it causes ionization, some of the gas molecules are turned into positive ions and electrons, the positive ions are attracted to the outside of the tube. The electrons are attracted to a metal wire running down the inside of the tube maintained at a high positive voltage. Many electrons travel down the wire making a burst of current in a circuit connected to it. The electrons make a meter needle deflect and you can hear a click every time radioactive …show more content…
Beta particles are caused when a neutron in an unstable atom splits apart to form a proton/positron and an electron, the electron is referred to as a beta negative particle and the positron is refered to as a beta positive particle. The electron is shot from the nucleus and out of the atom. Beta particles have high penetration ability and low ionisation ability, beta particles can travel over one centimetre into a human body, they can travel through paper and sometimes aluminium, however if the aluminium is thick it should be able to stop the beta particles by absorbing them, or cause them to bounce of the surface of the aluminium. Beta particles are very light, they are 700 times smaller than an alpha particle and can travel 0.50m. Gamma radiation has very high penetration ability and very low ionisation ability. Gamma radiation is the most popular form of radiation and the most dangerous, gamma decay happens when a nucleus gets too excited and needs to release energy, so it releases a gamma ray out of the nucleus, the ray that has been released can only be stopped by a few cm of lead, it penetrates straight through the human body and can