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Oh, your sentence explained to me something I had never understood. Alpha radiation is harmful because the helium nucleus acquires an electronic, becomes helium
by Iv 9y ago
Oh, your sentence explained to me something I had never understood. Alpha radiation is harmful because the helium nucleus acquires an electronic, becomes helium that tries to escape? I always thought it was just the impact of the particle that caused damage but now I understand better, thanks!
- tylerhou 9y agoImpact can also cause damage, afaik.
- marcosdumay 9y agoAFAIK, alpha radiation is not a big problem at all. But if it's that bad, you can put a layer of paper sheets (or metal film, or whatever) on the inside of the reactor to absorb it. Again AFAIK, all the issues are caused by neutron radiation.
- iaw 9y agoMy understanding aligns with yours. These are probably highly energetic Alpha particles that embed in metals but I always thought they were of little concern compared to the problems of decay due to neutron bombardment.