What is Beta Radiation？

Beta radiation is a light, short-range particle and is actually an ejected electron. Some characteristics of beta radiation are:

Beta radiation may travel several feet in air and is moderately penetrating.

Beta radiation can penetrate human skin to the "germinal layer," where new skin cells are produced. If high levels of beta-emitting contaminants are allowed to remain on the skin for a prolonged period of time, they may cause skin injury.

Beta-emitting contaminants may be harmful if deposited internally.

Most beta emitters can be detected with a survey instrument and a thin-window GM probe (e.g., "pancake" type). Some beta emitters, however, produce very low-energy, poorly penetrating radiation that may be difficult or impossible to detect. Examples of these difficult-to-detect beta emitters are hydrogen-3 (tritium), carbon-14, and sulfur-35.

Clothing provides some protection against beta radiation.

Examples of some pure beta emitters: strontium-90, carbon-14, tritium, and sulfur-35.

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What is Alpha Radiation?

Alpha radiation is a heavy, very short-range particle and is actually an ejected helium nucleus. Some characteristics of alpha radiation are:

Most alpha radiation is not able to penetrate human skin.

Alpha-emitting materials can be harmful to humans if the materials are inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through open wounds.

A variety of instruments has been designed to measure alpha radiation. Special training in the use of these instruments is essential for making accurate measurements.

A thin-window Geiger-Mueller (GM) probe can detect the presence of alpha radiation.

Instruments cannot detect alpha radiation through even a thin layer of water, dust, paper, or other material, because alpha radiation is not penetrating.

Alpha radiation travels only a short distance (a few inches) in air, but is not an external hazard.

Alpha radiation is not able to penetrate clothing.

Examples of some alpha emitters: radium, radon, uranium, thorium.

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What is Ionizing Radiation?

Ionizing radiation can be measured using units of electron volts, ergs, and joules. The electron-volt (abbreviated eV) is a unit of energy associated with moving electrons around. An electron is “tightly bound” in a hydrogen atom (one proton and one electron). It takes energy to move this electron away from the proton. It takes 13.6 electron-volts of energy to move this electron completely away from the proton. We say then that the atom is “ionized.” In the jargon, the “ionization energy” of the tightly bound electron in hydrogen is 13.6 electron volts. Tungsten would be the best choice for ionizing radiation, for more details, you could visit here.

Radiation Detector In Your Smartphone

A smartphone camera can make you a walking gamma ray detector. Without needing any extra hardware, you could get a warning on your phone when you're approaching potentially harmful levels of gamma radiation.

They concluded that the phones have the processing power to detect gamma radiation with their built-in cameras and to measure levels on the phone. With the help of a program on a remote server, the app captures and measures an average energy level, then uses a model to figure out what types of radioactive material could be emitting the radiation. Basically, once your phone has been calibrated with the app, you'll have a radiation detector in your pocket.

The scientists are considering a commercial partnership to develop the app for the general public. In the meantime, there are other apps that can give you an estimate of the gamma radiation around you.

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