alpha particle

Noun

Meaning

a positively charged particle that is the nucleus of the helium atom; emitted from natural or radioactive isotopes

Source: WordNet

Synonyms

triton electron meson lepton nucleon ionizing radiation particle accelerator baryon elementary particle mesotron antilepton antimeson neutron nuclear magnetic resonance beta particle
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Hypernyms

particle subatomic particle

Related terms

gamma ray beta particle

Examples

Alpha radiation has high linear energy transfer (LET) coefficient, which is about one ionization of a molecule/atom for every angstrom of travel by the alpha particle. Source: Internet

An alpha particle can be thought of as being inside a potential barrier whose walls are 25 MeV. Source: Internet

In 1959 the team continued their studies and claimed that they were able to produce an isotope that decayed predominantly by emission of an 8.3 MeV alpha particle, with a half-life of 3 s with an associated 30% spontaneous fission branch. Source: Internet

For example, performing the calculation for uranium-232 shows that alpha particle emission would need only 5.4 MeV, while a single proton emission would require 6.1 MeV. Source: Internet

Essentially, the alpha particle escapes from the nucleus by quantum tunnelling its way out. Source: Internet

History An early alpha particle counter designed by Rutherford and Geiger. Source: Internet

Close letter words and terms

Alpha Orionis alpha pair alpha paper alpha particle detector alpha particle X-ray spectrometer alpha predator