It was one of those ‘archaic’ experiments in the Natural Philosophy laboratory at Glasgow University. It had been included in the belief that it provided the student with a better appreciation of the basics of radioactivity. As I recall the experiment involved a radioactive source and a gold leaf electroscope. When a charge was placed… Continue reading Marie Curie and I
Tag: Radioactivity
This tag relates to the process whereby atom of a specific element spontaneously changes to another element with the emission of radioactive particles. An alpha particle consists of two neutrons and two protons and is identified as a charged Helium atom. Beta radiation in the form of high energy electrons is created where a neutron decays to a proton, an electron and an anti-neutrino. Gamma radiation consists of high energy photons which are emitted when electrons change orbital trajectories during the process of radioactive decay. The half life of a radioactive element is the time taken for its activity to fall by half.