– Why are alpha- and beta radiation referred as particles, whilst gamma radiation as rays?
In: Physics
Alpha and beta particles are actually particles. Alpha particles are helium nuclei, and beta particles are electrons
Gamma radiation is light. While we can think of light as photons, all of these names were established before wave-particle duality was even conceptualized (1923), but after the double slit experiment (1801) showed light was a wave, but it wouldn’t be until 1905 the photon would even be proposed (quantized light was proposed by Max Planck in 1900, but only as a mathematical trick. Planck did not think that was the actual nature of the universe)
Alpha and beta particles were discovered in 1899 by Ernest Rutherford, and gamma radiation was discovered by Paul Villard in 1900
Henri Becquerel discovered radiation in 1896, and discovered that the electron (discovered by JJ Thompson in 1897) had the same mass to charge ratio as the beta particle in 1900
Marie Curie is the one who coined the term radioactivity in 1898 and found the first radioactive elements and built the first field equipment to measure radioactivity
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