Penetrating Properties of Radiation

Penetrating Properties of Radiation

Radioactivity. What is it? Should we be worried?

It was Marie Curie who first used the word radioactive to describe a phenomenon discovered by Becquerel in 1896. It would be Rutherford who would investigate this further.

It was found that many elements had isotopes that were naturally radioactive. They had an unstable nucleus which would decay in an attempt to achieve stability, emitting radiation as they did so.

Rutherford identified 3 types of radiation, two of which were deflected in an electric or magnetic field.

These were identified and named as alpha, beta and gamma radiation.

Here we will look more closely at their properties of penetration of matter.

CREDITS
Animation & Design: Reshenda Wakefield
Narration: Dale Bennett
Script: Alistair Haynes