First of all my respectful greeting to all the academic and scientific community of Hive.blog, especially to #stemsocial, #curie, #ocd, after identifying the electromagnetic radiations, now we continue analyzing another type of radiation and in this opportunity we will relate to the corpuscular radiations.

Introduction

In our wonderful journey in the understanding of the electromagnetic spectrum, we have been able to demonstrate that the light rays visible to our natural optical systems (eyes) have been an essential reference for the conformation of the spectrum, and thus everything around us, if we could visualize each electromagnetic radiation that has influence in our lives we would notice that they are everywhere.

There are countless applications that man has been able to give to each of these radiations, among which we could analyze the ultraviolet rays, infrared, X-rays, microwaves, gamma and radio waves, and of course, all these radiations are structuring the essential electromagnetic spectrum, and whose difference is in their wavelengths, and thus in their frequency and energy capacity.

Therefore, to close with the general analysis of electromagnetic radiation, we can observe the spectrum that we configured as we were studying each one of them, as shown in figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Electromagnetic Spectrum Shaping

In the previous figure 1, we conform to our electromagnetic spectrum, taking into account their wavelengths and thus frequency and energy, and with this spectrum we have been able to feed, in terms of knowledge to various areas of our development as technology, and the same, we can say that it is nothing more than science applied in the search for our social welfare in general.

After analyzing in a general way each spectral fraction of our electromagnetic spectrum, in this article we will link with another type of energy manifestation of non-electromagnetic nature, and these are called corpuscular radiations, therefore, it is important to remember or emphasize that a radiation is a type of energy which is transmitted or propagated from a certain space to another one.

It is important to point out that the difference between one radiation and another is that electromagnetic radiation does not have any mass because it only contains energy, as we could see in our figure 1, but corpuscular radiations are those manifestations of energy that propagate with mass, an important characteristic that distinguishes them from electromagnetic radiations.

We can continue to go deeper into these corpuscular radiations, and therefore, we can express that they have ionization capacity when they come into contact with the constituent matter of a certain organism or body, this aspect makes them belong to the family of ionizing radiations, where we find both X-rays and gamma rays, and as it has been expressed, the latter belong to the electromagnetic type radiations.

Of this important group of corpuscular radiation with ionization capacity, we will begin by analyzing in a general way alpha rays (α), and this type of corpuscular radiation is structured by two protons and two neutrons, and this structure represents the nucleus of a helium atom with two positive charges, generally originating from constituent atoms of very heavy elements.

As we did in the analysis of electromagnetic radiation, in this case we will also implement the conceptualization of light rays with rectilinear propagation and in the form of waves, and likewise, since corpuscular radiation has ionization capacity, we will relate them to X-rays and gamma rays, both of which are electromagnetic in nature, as mentioned above.

Alpha rays (α)

We can clearly express that our existence is greatly influenced by the presence of any type of radiation of both electromagnetic and corpuscular nature, all these learnings we have obtained thanks to the essential implementation of our powerful research tool as it is the whole field of science.

It is important to highlight that each one of us receives some type of radiation when we carry out any type of activity, that is, radiation is an intrinsic part of the development of our existence, where some of them are harmless to our bodily health, but others are not, such as those with ionization capacity, among which are alpha (α) rays.

This type of corpuscular radiation propagates in the form of subatomic particles such as helium nuclei, protons, electrons, neutrons, among others, and usually develop great speed, however, this speed will always be below the speed developed by electromagnetic radiation, However, some electromagnetic radiations such as X-rays and gamma rays are related to corpuscular radiations and are ionizing, therefore, they generate some kind of biological change in matter (X-rays and gamma rays) as well as corpuscular radiations.

According to the above described, we have that corpuscular radiations have the capacity to ionize matter, that is to say, such radiations when interacting with matter will lose a certain amount of their energy, and with this, they manage to separate certain electron of those constituent atoms of the tissues with which they impact, and in this way they will convert or transform them into ions.

Another of the particular characteristics of this type of radiation is that its energetic propagation is related to a certain amount of mass, and this could develop spontaneously or artificially, among this type of radiation is the alpha radiation (α), and therefore, it is a radiation composed or formed by particles structured by two (2) protons and two (2) neutrons, as is the nucleus of a helium atom, is a radiation composed or conformed by particles structured by two (2) protons as well as by two (2) neutrons, as is the nucleus of a Helium atom, and it is composed by two positive charges, this type of radiation generally comes or is emitted in atoms that conform molecules of heavy elements such as Uranium, Radium and Thorium.

It is important to highlight that the nucleus of the atoms of the elements described above (uranium, radium, thorium) are very rich in neutrons, this means that there are more neutrons than protons in these nuclei, this feature makes them unstable, when these elements generate or emit an alpha particle (α) this causes these atoms change their nuclear composition, and thus, is transformed into another different element, therefore, subtracting two neutrons and two protons, then visualize a form of alpha ray emission in the following figure 2.

Figure 2. Emission of alpha rays by the element Uranium

Then, the alpha rays or radiation (α) are made up of particles that have high energetic charges, as we could observe in the previous figure 2.

When comparing the ionization capacity of this type of corpuscular radiation with other electromagnetic radiation such as gamma rays, we can say that alpha (α) radiation is more powerful than gamma rays, however, another thing happens with its penetration capacity because it is of very low efficiency towards our body, but it is always necessary to be cautious with this alpha (α) radiation because we should not place a certain source of generation of this type of radiation on our skin.

In order to compare the penetrability of this type of corpuscular radiation such as alpha radiation (α) with other electromagnetic types such as X-rays and gamma rays, let's visualize the following figure 3.

Figure 3. Penetrability of alpha rays relative to X-rays and gamma rays

Another important aspect to analyze of this type of corpuscular radiation is its trajectory, this aspect can be visualized through the implementation of an instrument called fog chamber, this important instrument is implemented to detect radioactive particles with the ability to ionize matter, among these particles are the alpha rays (α), as we can see in the following figure 4.

Figure 4. Fog camera detecting the path or presence of ionizing radiation, including alpha particles

In the previous figure 4, you could observe the trajectory of the alpha particles (α) and it is represented by short straight lines and also thick, this characteristic regarding the trace of its trajectory can be attributed to its mass quantity, because it manages to move away other particles that collide with them (alpha particles (α)) either in the air or in vacuum.

Another characteristic of alpha (α) rays, in spite of their ionization capacity, is their important application in radiotherapy originating from unsealed sources, whose emitting source is the element Radium 226. This application has the same purpose as those observed in X and gamma rays, that is, to treat some types of cancer, as shown in figure 5 below.

Figure 5. Alpha radiation in radiotherapy

Among other important applications we also find it in the devices implemented to detect smoke and the same as we know are activated for the prevention of some type of fire, as well as electromagnetic radiation, this type of radiation has great applications despite being all ionizing as well as X-rays and gamma rays, however, thanks to science-technology we can implement them for our welfare.

Conclusion

With our journey through the understanding of any type of radiation we have been demonstrating that they have great influence on our lives, both those that are electromagnetic in nature and thus without mass quantity, such as corpuscular waves which have mass charge, the truth is that man has managed in addition to knowing about these radiations, has also been able to place it at our disposal.

Therefore, as you could notice in this article, we relate to other forms of energy propagation such as corpuscular radiations, where it will always be necessary to highlight that any form of learning related to our majestic universe has been achieved thanks to the understanding of electromagnetic radiations, but in particular, with our referential spectral portion, that is, our visible light.

In this way we arrive to the corpuscular radiations, and these are due to the propagation of subatomic particles, analyzing in this opportunity the alpha (α) rays or radiations, where we can emphasize that the alpha (α) rays have the capacity to ionize the matter with which they manage to make contact or interact, however, it is important to emphasize that for our body fortunately this type of alpha (α) radiation has little capacity of penetrability as it could be seen in figure 3.

In general, we can say that there are many applications of this type of alpha (α) radiation to essential or vital areas of our development, including its implementation in radiotherapy to combat the progression of some types of cancer, using its ability to ionize the matter with which they come into contact.

Until another delivery my appreciated readers of Hive.blog, specially to the members of the great community of #Stemsocial, which receives the support of another wonderful community like #curie, reason why I recommend widely to be part of this exemplary project, since they allow us to emphasize the wonderful task of the academy and the enormous work of all the field of science.

Note: All images were created using Paint and Power Point applications and the animated gif was created using PhotoScape.

Bibliographic references consulted and recommended

[1]Charles H. Lehmann. Analytical Geometry

[2]THE MEASUREMENT OF ALPHA, BETA AND GAMMA RADIATIONS

[3]FUNDAMENTAL RADIATION CONCEPTS

[4]RADIATION HEALTH BASICS