How gamma radiation is able to penetrate thick layers of material, whilst alpha and beta hardly penetrates skin?
In: Physics
Another aspect is how it ionises (pulls electrons off) stuff (molecules, etc.)
For alpha particles, they have a high charge, so it ionises things the most easily.
For beta particles, they have a lower charge, so they ionise less easily than alpha particles.
These two only have to get close to other molecules (or atoms, or compounds) in order to ionise them, so they won’t travel very far before they’re “used up”*.
For gamma radiation, its just energy, so you can think about it as a photon, which has no charge. This means it has to physically hit an electron before it can ionise it, so the photons travel quite far before they’re “used up”*.
*obviously very simplified
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