{"id":12712,"date":"2016-09-26T14:22:45","date_gmt":"2016-09-26T14:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/?page_id=12712"},"modified":"2022-10-18T10:34:38","modified_gmt":"2022-10-18T10:34:38","slug":"shielding-of-alpha-radiation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/radiation\/shielding-of-ionizing-radiation\/shielding-of-alpha-radiation\/","title":{"rendered":"Shielding of Alpha Radiation"},"content":{"rendered":"<div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"    class=\"su-quote su-quote-style-default\"><div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"    class=\"su-quote-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\"><strong>Shielding of ionizing radiation<\/strong>\u00a0simply means having <strong>some material between the source of radiation and you<\/strong> (or some device) that will <strong>absorb the <a title=\"Radiation\" href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/radiation\/\">radiation<\/a><\/strong>. A thin piece of paper can stop most alpha particles<strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Shielding of alpha radiation alone does not pose a difficult problem. On the other hand, alpha radioactive nuclides can lead to serious health hazards when ingested or inhaled (internal contamination).<\/span><\/strong><\/div><\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0following\u00a0features of alpha particles are crucial in their shielding.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a title=\"Alpha Particle\" href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/fundamental-particles\/alpha-particle\/\"><strong>Alpha particles<\/strong><\/a> are energetic <strong>nuclei of helium,<\/strong> and they\u00a0are relatively heavy\u00a0and carry a <strong>double positive charge<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>Alpha particles <a title=\"Interaction of Heavy Charged Particles with Matter\" href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/interaction-radiation-matter\/interaction-heavy-charged-particles\/\">interact with matter<\/a> primarily through <strong>coulomb forces<\/strong> (ionization and excitation of matter) between their electrons\u2019 positive and negative charge of the electrons from atomic orbitals.<\/li>\n<li>Alpha particles <strong>heavily ionize matter,<\/strong> and they quickly lose their kinetic energy. On the other hand, they deposit all their energies along their short paths.<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/interaction-radiation-matter\/interaction-heavy-charged-particles\/stopping-power-bethe-formula\/\">Bethe formula<\/a> well describes the stopping power.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shielding_alpha_beta.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-12728 alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shielding_alpha_beta-300x250.png\" alt=\"Shielding of Alpha and Beta Radiation\" width=\"300\" height=\"250\" srcset=\"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shielding_alpha_beta-300x250.png 300w, https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shielding_alpha_beta-1024x853.png 1024w, https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/shielding_alpha_beta.png 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>The stopping power of most materials is very high for alpha particles and heavy-charged particles. Therefore alpha particles have <strong>very short ranges<\/strong>. For example, the ranges of a 5 MeV alpha particle (most have such initial energy) are approximately 0,002 cm in aluminium alloy or approximately 3.5 cm in air. A thin piece of paper can stop most alpha particles<strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Even the dead cells in the outer layer of human skin provide adequate shielding because alpha particles can\u2019t penetrate it.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Therefore the shielding of alpha radiation alone does not pose a difficult problem. On the other hand, alpha radioactive nuclides can lead to serious health hazards when ingested or inhaled (internal contamination). When they are ingested or inhaled, the alpha particles from their decay significantly harm the internal living tissue. Moreover, pure alpha radiation is very rare. Alpha decay is frequently accompanied by gamma radiation which shielding is another issue.<\/p>\n<p>See also: <a title=\"Interaction of Heavy Charged Particles with Matter\" href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/interaction-radiation-matter\/interaction-heavy-charged-particles\/\">Interaction of Heavy Charged Particles with Matter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"    class=\"su-divider su-divider-style-dotted\" style=\"margin:20px 0;border-width:2px;border-color:#999999\"><\/div>\n<div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"     class=\"lgc-column lgc-grid-parent lgc-grid-33 lgc-tablet-grid-33 lgc-mobile-grid-100 lgc-equal-heights \"><div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"     class=\"inside-grid-column\">\n<h2>See above:<\/h2>\n<p>Shielding of Ionizing Radiation<a href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/radiation\/shielding-of-ionizing-radiation\/\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-flat\" style=\"color:#606060;background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#cccccc;border-radius:10px;-moz-border-radius:10px;-webkit-border-radius:10px\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color:#606060;padding:7px 20px;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;border-color:#ffffff;border-radius:10px;-moz-border-radius:10px;-webkit-border-radius:10px;text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000;-moz-text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000;-webkit-text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000\"><i class=\"sui sui-link\" style=\"font-size:16px;color:#5d5d5d\"><\/i> <\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div><div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"     class=\"lgc-column lgc-grid-parent lgc-grid-33 lgc-tablet-grid-33 lgc-mobile-grid-100 lgc-equal-heights \"><div   id="8n9s8rpp6h"     class=\"inside-grid-column\">\n<h2>See next:<\/h2>\n<p>Shielding of Beta Radiation<a href=\"http:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/radiation\/shielding-of-ionizing-radiation\/shielding-beta-radiation\/\" class=\"su-button su-button-style-flat\" style=\"color:#606060;background-color:#ffffff;border-color:#cccccc;border-radius:10px;-moz-border-radius:10px;-webkit-border-radius:10px\" target=\"_self\"><span style=\"color:#606060;padding:7px 20px;font-size:16px;line-height:24px;border-color:#ffffff;border-radius:10px;-moz-border-radius:10px;-webkit-border-radius:10px;text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000;-moz-text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000;-webkit-text-shadow:0px 0px 0px #000000\"><i class=\"sui sui-link\" style=\"font-size:16px;color:#5d5d5d\"><\/i> <\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0following\u00a0features of alpha particles are crucial in their shielding. Alpha particles are energetic nuclei of helium, and they\u00a0are relatively heavy\u00a0and carry a double positive charge. Alpha particles interact with matter primarily through coulomb forces (ionization and excitation of matter) between their electrons\u2019 positive and negative charge of the electrons from atomic orbitals. Alpha particles heavily &#8230; <a title=\"Shielding of Alpha Radiation\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/nuclear-power\/reactor-physics\/atomic-nuclear-physics\/radiation\/shielding-of-ionizing-radiation\/shielding-of-alpha-radiation\/\" aria-label=\"More on Shielding of Alpha Radiation\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":12705,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12712"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12712"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12712\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32672,"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12712\/revisions\/32672"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/12705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sitepourvtc.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}