What do rays do?

Alpha, beta and gamma rays are characterized by:

1 and α rays have much weaker ability to penetrate matter than β rays, and are easily blocked by thin layers of matter, but they have strong ionization.

Alpha rays are also called "A rays". It is a stream of alpha particles released by radioactive materials. It can be emitted by various radioactive substances (such as radium). The kinetic energy of alpha particles can reach several trillion electron volts. Because the mass of alpha particles is much greater than that of electrons, it is easy to ionize the atoms in them and lose energy when passing through matter, so its ability to penetrate matter is much weaker than that of beta rays.

2. The penetration ability of β -rays is very strong, and the ionization effect is very weak, but the β -rays are about half.

Negative charge particles released when radioactive isotopes (such as 32P and 35S) decay. Short range, weak air penetration. Ionization in organisms is stronger than gamma rays and x-rays. β -ray is a high-speed electron current of 0/- 1e, with strong penetration and weak ionization. Originally, there was no distinction between left and right in the physical world, but there was a distinction between left and right in beta rays.

3. The γ -ray has a short wavelength (0.00 1-0.000 1nm), strong penetrating power and long range, and can irradiate many substances at one time, and the dose is relatively uniform and dangerous, so it must be shielded (a few centimeters of lead plate or a few meters of concrete wall).

Gamma rays are one of the rays emitted when atoms decay and split. This kind of electromagnetic wave has short wave length, strong penetration and high energy, which is easy to cause DNA breakage in biological cells and then cause cell mutation, hematopoietic loss, cancer and other diseases. But it can kill cells, so it can also be used for medical purposes to kill cancer cells.

Extended data

Application of γ -ray irradiation:

1, food irradiation

When γ -ray irradiation is used to process food, it produces strong physical and chemical effects and biological effects in the process of energy transfer and transfer, so as to achieve the purpose of killing insects, sterilizing, maintaining nutritional quality and flavor and prolonging shelf life.

2. Industrial irradiation

Industrial irradiation is also a specific application of irradiation, which can greatly enhance the bonding force between polymers, and then enhance the thermal stability, flame retardancy, chemical stability, drip resistance, strength and stress cracking resistance of materials. There are many ways of industrial irradiation, such as X-ray and high-speed electron flow. The application fields mainly include building wiring, automobile wires, heat-resistant electronic wires, military industry and so on.

3. Medical radiation

Medical irradiation is a treatment method to make microorganisms irreparably damaged and destroyed by gamma rays of cobalt -60, so as to achieve the purpose of sterilization. Irradiation is the best means to ensure the quality of medical supplies by gamma rays at home and abroad.

4. Drug radiation

Most Chinese patent medicines and some western medicines can be sterilized by irradiation, especially some powders and Chinese patent medicines which are not resistant to high temperature and have volatile components.

Because the gamma rays released by cobalt -60 have strong penetrating power, the drugs to be treated can be prepackaged into packages that cannot penetrate bacteria, so that after radiation disinfection, the secondary pollution of the drugs before final use can be effectively avoided.

References:

Baidu Encyclopedia-Lei