Range of alpha partical

Introduction:
Alpha particle:
Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and
two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are
generally produced in the process of alpha decay, but may also be produced in other ways.
Source of alpha particle:
The best-known source of alpha particles is alpha decay of heavier (> 106 u atomic
weight) atoms. When an atom emits an alpha particle in alpha decay, the atom's mass
number decreases by four due to the loss of the four nucleons in the alpha particle.
The atomic number of the atom goes down by two, as a result of the loss of two protons – the
atom becomes a new element. Examples of this sort of nuclear transmutation by alpha decay
are the decay of uranium to thorium, and that of radium to radon.
Alpha particles are commonly emitted by all of the larger radioactive nuclei such
as uranium, thorium, actinium, and radium, as well as the transuranic elements. Unlike other
types of decay, alpha decay as a process must have a minimum-size atomic nucleus that can
support it. The smallest nuclei that have to date been found to be capable of alpha emission
are beryllium-8 and the lightest nuclides of tellurium (element 52), with mass numbers
between 104 and 109. The alpha decay sometimes leaves the nucleus in an excited state; the
emission of a gamma ray then removes the excess energy.
Energy and absorption:

The energy of the alpha particle emitted in alpha decay is mildly dependent on the
half-life for the emission process, with many orders of magnitude differences in half-life
being associated with energy changes of less than 50%, shown by the Geiger–Nuttall law.
The energy of alpha particles emitted varies, with higher energy alpha particles being
emitted from larger nuclei, but most alpha particles have energies of between 3 and
7 MeV (mega-electron-volts), corresponding to extremely long and extremely short half-lives
of alpha-emitting nuclides, respectively. The energies and ratios are often distinct and can be
used to identify specific nuclides as in alpha spectrometry.
With a typical kinetic energy of 5 MeV; the speed of emitted alpha particles is
15,000 km/s, which is 5% of the speed of light. This energy is a substantial amount of energy
for a single particle, but their high mass means alpha particles have a lower speed than any
other common type of radiation, e.g. β particles, neutrons.
Because of their charge and large mass, alpha particles are easily absorbed by
materials, and they can travel only a few centimetres in air. They can be absorbed by tissue
paper or by the outer layers of human skin. They typically penetrate skin about
40 micrometres, equivalent to a few cells deep.

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Biological effect:

Due to the short range of absorption and inability to penetrate the outer layers of skin,
alpha particles are not, in general, dangerous to life unless the source is ingested or
inhaled. Because of this high mass and strong absorption, if alpha-emitting radionuclides do
enter the body (upon being inhaled, ingested, or injected, as with the use of Thorotrast for
high-quality X-ray images prior to the 1950s), alpha radiation is the most destructive form
of ionizing radiation. It is the most strongly ionizing, and with large enough doses can cause
any or all of the symptoms of radiation poisoning. It is estimated that chromosome damage
from alpha particles is anywhere from 10 to 1000 times greater than that caused by an
equivalent amount of gamma or beta radiation, with the average being set at 20 times. A
study of European nuclear workers exposed internally to alpha radiation from plutonium and
uranium found that when relative biological effectiveness is considered to be 20, the
carcinogenic potential (in terms of lung cancer) of alpha radiation appears to be consistent
with that reported for doses of external gamma radiation i.e. a given dose of alpha-particles
inhaled presents the same risk as a 20-times higher dose of gamma radiation. The powerful
alpha emitter polonium-210 (a milligram of 210Po emits as many alpha particles per second as
4.215 grams of 226Ra) is suspected of playing a role in lung cancer and bladder cancer related
to tobacco smoking. 210Po was used to kill Russian dissident and ex-FSB officer Alexander V.
Litvinenko in 2006.
When alpha particle emitting isotopes are ingested, they are far more dangerous than
their half-life or decay rate would suggest, due to the high relative biological effectiveness of
alpha radiation to cause biological damage. Alpha radiation is an average of about 20 times
more dangerous, and in experiments with inhaled alpha emitters, up to 1000 times more
dangerous than an equivalent activity of beta emitting or gamma emitting radioisotopes.
Range of alpha particle:

The total path length traversed by a charged particle before it is stopped is called its
range.... In a given medium, electrons have a greater range than alpha particles of the same
energy and are, therefore, more penetrating. The greater the original energy of the particle,
the longer is its range. range, in radioactivity, the distance that a particle travels from its
source through matter. The range depends upon the type of particle, its original energy of
motion (kinetic energy), the medium through which it travels, and the particular way in which
range is further defined. Range applies especially to charged particles, such as electrons and
alpha particles. Charged particles are slowed down chiefly because their energy of motion
is dissipated in forcing electrons out of the atoms of the absorbing medium (ionization) or in
promoting these electrons to higher energy levels within the atoms (excitation).

Alpha particles, in particular, travel in nearly straight paths because they are
thousands of times heavier than the atomic electrons to which they gradually lose energy.
Their range is usually measured from the source in a straight line to the point at
which ionization ceases to occur. The range of electrons (beta particles) is measured
differently because radiated electrons are deflected into erratic paths by the electrons in the
atoms of the absorbing medium.

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 The range of electrons may be taken as the greatest distance of penetration in a given
direction, or the minimum thickness of the medium required to stop all electrons. A slight
spread of values in the range that given charged particles of the same initial energy travel in a
given kind of matter is called straggling. The loss of energy of the particle, because it occurs
in a series of discrete amounts, fluctuates statistically about a mean value, equivalent to a
most probable range. Thus, alpha particles and other charged particles of the same initial
energy show a slight random variation in their ranges.

A charged particle moving through a neutral medium will interact electromagnetically

with both the electrons and nucleii of the material. The electromagnetic interactions with the
nucleii cause Rutherford Scattering and are seen as small (and occasionally large) changes in
directions. The interactions with the electrons are far more frequent and are seen as a fairly
steady loss of kinetic energy. There are, of course, statistical fluctuations in the rate of the
interactions and this is seen as “straggling” of the range of monoenergetic particles. For
example, alphas with a mean range of 20 cm will have range fluctuations (straggling) of
about ±1%. The rate of loss of energy can be calculated (see Ref.[1], pg. 637 and Ref.[2], pp.
155-162.)

Where

e = charge on electron (coulombs).

z = Atomic number of moving particle.

N = the number of atoms/unit volume (meter−3 ).

me = mass of electron (kg).

v = velocity of the moving particle (meter/sec).

E = kinetic energy of the moving particle (joules).

x = distance travelled by the particle (meter).

ε0 = permittivity of free space.

1/(4π ε0) = 8.988 × 109 Newton meter2/coulomb2 .

B = Atomic stopping number (dimensionless).

The factor B is not constant but varies slowly with energy in a logarithmic manner. The
theoretical calculations for B become difficult when allowance is made for the partial
screening of the nuclear charge by the inner (K) electrons.

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The best formula for B is probably.

where

CK = the correction term for the K-shielding.

The equations and a plot of CK

β = the usual relativity factor - veloc particle/veloc light

I = “average” ionization potential of the stopping medium

Z = (average) atomic number of the stopping medium

If we assume that the velocity is non-relativistic, then E = 1/ 2mv2 and so:

Where

M is the mass of the particle.

β 2 is also small so that ln(1 − β 2 ) ≈ −β 2 and so

Fortunately in our experiment with alpha particles in air, the

calculated value of CK is nearly constant near 0.90.

The particle range can be determined by integrating dE dx over the particle energy

Statistical fluctuations lead to a distribution of ranges about the mean

R0 with a straggling parameter α defined by the probability distribution for the ranges:

Numerical values for dE dx as a function of energy are

shown in Fig. 1 for various particles. A 5 Mev alpha particle has a dE dx value of about 1000
MeV/gm − cm−2 . dE dx has minimum for all particles at a kinetic emergy of about twice the
rest mass. For singly charged particles this value is about 2 MeV/gm − cm−2 .

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