Einstein’s mass-energy equation describes how mass and energy are interchangeable quantities. Conservation of mass-energy can also be used to explain radioactivity phenomena: when energy is released in the KE of an alpha or beta particle (or the energy of a gamma...
Radioactive decay is random and spontaneous. Random: cannot be predicted; each atom has the same chance of decaying in a given time interval 2. Spontaneous: not affected by external factors like pressure or the presence of other nuclei in the sample 3 types of...
Each particle has a corresponding antiparticle with the same mass but opposite values for all other properties (e.g. strangeness, charge). Examples of particle-antiparticle pairs include: electron-positron, proton-antiproton, neutronantineutron,...
Rutherford’s alpha-scattering experiment provided evidence of a small, charged nucleus. A narrow beam of alpha particles, all of the same kinetic energy from a radioactive source were targeted at a thin piece of gold foil which was only a few atomic layers thick. The...