SYMPOSIA PAPER Published: 01 January 1954
STP47986S

Nuclear Radiation—Its Detection and Measurement

Source

There are six different types of commonly used nuclear radiations: alpha particles, beta particles, positrons, gamma rays, protons, and neutrons. The first five of these radiations are detected directly by the ionization which they produce on passage through a medium, such as gas. Neutrons are unlike the other radiations in that they are nonionizing in nature, but when entering a nucleus they often convert it to a radioactive isotope whose emission is detectable (for instance, when they enter the nucleus of the boron-10 isotope, the nucleus disrupts, emitting an alpha particle and a lithium particle; the alpha and lithium particles can be detected). Neutrons, therefore, are detected by secondary means.

Author Information

Wakefield, Ernest, H.
Radiation Counter Laboratories, Inc., Skokie, Ill.
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Details
Developed by Committee: E10
Pages: 30–39
DOI: 10.1520/STP47986S
ISBN-EB: 978-0-8031-8370-4
ISBN-13: 978-0-8031-6859-6