Alpha Definition and 475 Threads

Qwiki Alpha is a new web-site which is an online encyclopedia much like Wikipedia. It's very interesting, I actually prefer it to Wikipedia for concise and clear descriptions: http://www.qwiki.com/q/#!/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

I have been reading about the star system on wiki and noticed that one of the Alpha Centauri stars could in theory have a terrestrial planet in the goldilocks region. I also came to know that its orbit would only be stable for 250 million years. Given that these stars have been around for a few...

Homework Statement A plutonium-239 nucleus, initially at rest, undergoes alpha decay to produce a uranium-235 nucleus. The uranium-235 nucleus has a mass of 3.90x10^-25 kg, & moves away from the location of the decay with a speed of 2.62x10^5 m/s. Determine the minum electric potential...

Homework Statement An alpha particle (two protons and two neutrons) traveling east at 2.0 x 105 m/s enters a magnetic field of 0.20 T pointing straight up. What is the force acting on the alpha particle? Homework Equations F = qvBsinøThe Attempt at a Solution With the fingers of the right hand...

Why their tracks after collision has an angle 90 degree? Any detail derive?

Homework Statement For alpha particles of 7.7 MeV, what impact parameter will result in a deflection of 2 degrees for a thin gold foil? Homework Equations impact parameter equation, b=\frac{kq_{\alpha}Q}{m_{\alpha}v^{2}}cot\frac{\theta}{2} The Attempt at a Solution Pretty easy, just plug...

I would like to pursue an idea that involves transmutation of elements using an alpha emitter. I figure that the production rate I would like to achieve would require about 5 Ci of radioactivity. What would be a good candidate, i.e. least expensive and reliable supply with a half life of > 60...

Thank you! A very frustrating problem involving physics, and I finally decided to create an account and ask. And I typed up my problem, equations and all. But as I typed a certain equation, I suddenly wondered why I had cos in one place and sin in another. That was a mistake, and after fixing...

I wanted to perform some experiments on enzyme rates and chose amylase as it is easy to obtain. However, I wanted it in pure form so that I can perform mass/concentration-based calculations as well. Is there any way to extract alpha-amylase from human saliva? Thank you.

Hello, I've taken a spectrum of a U238 sample, and I keep getting this hill of low energy values. Any ideas as to what could be causing them? Sorry about the weird screenshot; it's the only one I had and my friend couldn't see the dots, so i had to go over them in paint.

Hi there, I know that alpha particles will pass through gold foil if it is thin enough, but will alpha particles pass through a layer of teflon? If so, is there some way of knowing how thin the teflon should be for most alpha particles to pass through?

Li6(n,a)H3 , Q = 4.78 Mev. The H3 and He4 products are oppositely directed, away from the site of the compound nucleus, and hence they form one straight track. How to calculate the mean range of the alpha particle if the atomic stopping power of helium realtive to air is given as 0.36?

Homework Statement calculate alpha using the intercept and the value of k.Homework Equations T= 2pi*(m+(alpha)mspring)/k)^1/2The Attempt at a Solution my intercept i found using EXCEL was .228 and k=5kg/s^2 which I'm pretty sure i did wrong. But i don't know how my intercept would have anything...

Given that alpha is an upper bound of a given set S of real numbers, prove that the following two conditions are equivalent: a) We have alpha=sup(S) b) We have alpha belongs to S closure I'm trying to prove this using two steps. Step one being: assume a is true, then prove b is true...

Homework Statement An alpha particle and beta particle, each with kinetic energy 35keV , are sent through a 1.1T magnetic field. The particles move perpendicular to the field. Homework Equations no idea. The Attempt at a Solution theres nothing on curvature radius in my...

Suppose you wanted to reach Alpha Centauri in 100 years. a. How fast would you have to go, in km/hr3 b. How many times faster is the speed you found in (a) than the speeds ofour fastest current spacecraft (around 50,000 km/hr)?

Homework Statement see attachment Homework Equations r=RoA1/3 Ro=1.2*10-15 The Attempt at a Solution 35 kiloelectron volts = 5.60761762 × 10-15 joules I could calculate the velocity if I knew mass but that wouldn't help with the radius? I think that I need to find A from the...

Homework Statement I'm a little confused as to how exactly a protein folds into an alpha helix...like what causes it exactly to assume that conformation...does it fold spontaneously in water (like i know hydrophobic R groups cause the protein to fold where the hydrophobic groups are faced...

Hi guys, I posted this in the homework subforum but since its more intensive on the astrophysics side of things I thought I'd give it a shot here. Hope this isn't a problem mods. Helium is burnt via the triple alpha reaction: 3He4 -> C12 at a rate of λ3α(He4)3, where He4 denotes the number...

Homework Statement Helium is burnt via the triple alpha reaction: 3He4 -> C12 at a rate of \lambda3α(He4)3, where He4 denotes the number abundance of He4. Write the differential equation for He4 as a function of time. The Attempt at a Solution d(He4)/dt = production - destruction...

What CAUSES alpha, beta and gamma rays?

I understand that it's been determined to have a very small value. At the same time, it is also true that gravity is incredibly weak compared to the other fundamental forces. What I'm wondering whether there might be some relationship between them?

Homework Statement How much energy does an alpha particle need to penetrate the minimal protective epidermal layer of skin (Thickness ~7 mg cm-2 Homework Equations Possibly R=0.56E, E,4 OR R=1.24E-2.62, 4<E<8 The Attempt at a Solution I used the equation R=0.56E...

When a proton is fused with lithium and two alpha particles are formed, how do you know which direction they'll go. I thought they would take roughly the same path as the accelerated proton, but in the explanations of Cockroft and Walton's setup, they show the lithium at a 45 degree angle and...

Homework Statement An Alpha Particle is emitted with a kinetic energy of 2.34 MeV during a radioactive decay process. The maximum speed of the alpha particle is? Homework Equations KE=mv2 1 ev = 1.6x10-19j The Attempt at a Solution \sqrt{(2.34x10^6)(1.6x10^-19)/4(1.6x10^-27)} Unfortunately...

Hello, I'm new on this forum and I hope I will blend in nicely. I happen to have a couple of questions on the Alpha Centauri star in the constellation of Centaurus. I know the distance between this star and our milk way is huge, but suppose one could travel at the speed of light X 25, would...

Homework Statement What is the charge of an alpha particle? Charge of electron = 2.50x10^-21 Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Would you have to multipy 2.50x10^-21 x 2 to get the charge?

Hi, quick one: In my nuclear physics notes it says alpha emission is often the only light particle emission that takes place due to its very high binding energy. What I don't understand is that how come the nucleus wants to retain binding energy? I would have thought that it wants to get...

Homework Statement For which value of alpha does the following system of linear equations have a solution? x + y = 2 x +αy = -1 αx + y = 1 The Attempt at a Solution I put it into a matrix that looks like this: 1 1 | 2 1 α | -1 α 1 | 1 Then I subtracted row1 from...

Homework Statement The quadratic equation x^2 + kx + 2k = 0 where k is a non-zero constant, has roots \alpha and \beta. Find a quadratic equation with roots \frac{\alpha}{\beta} and \frac{\beta}{\alpha}. {one is meant to be inverted - the code isn't working properly :( } Homework...

[PLAIN]http://img266.imageshack.us/img266/8206/triangles.png This is not a homework question, but it is something I can't wrap my mind around. What is the equation for sine alpha where alpha is greater than 90 degrees? For the first triangle its easy: sine alpha = b/c But what is it for...

Hi, I want to know why a small change in energy released, Q, in alpha particle decay leads to a large change in the lifetime. Also could anyone provide me with a link that shows a diagram of the energy spectrum of alpha particles. Thanks.

Homework Statement An alpha particle is bombarded on 14 N. As a result a 17 O nucleus is formed, and a particle is emitted. This particle is a: (a) neutron (b) proton...

Homework Statement Show that kinetic energy acquired by an alpha particle during an alpha decay is Talpha=Q/[1+[maplha/mD] Homework Equations Q=[mP-mD-malpha]c^2 The Attempt at a Solution Q is the release of energy which is acquired by the daughter nucleus and the alpha...

I need some explanation to what I must know in order to solve the next problem. A step by step process and mention of the particular concept I must know would be greatly appreciated as I must learn how to do this by june 8. " In the alpha decay of a Uranium-238 nucleus, what is the ratio v/V...

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Homework Statement Polonium isotope {}_{84}^{210}Po is unstable and emits a 5.30MeV \alpha particle. i. Indentify the daughter nuclide (using a periodic table) ii. Calculate the mass of the daughter nuclide. Homework Equations Mass of neutral {}^{210}Po nuclide is 209.9829u Mass of...

Radium decays emitting alpha particles into Radon. i) Explain, in terms of momentum of the particles, why the radon nucleus and the alpha particles move off in opposite directions after the reaction. ii) The speed of the radon nucleus after the reaction is v_{R} and that of the alpha...

Why is it safe to suck the helium out of a balloon, but it is dangerous to ingest alpha particles? I guess the main question is what is the difference between an alpha particle and a helium atom? Aren't they both written as \stackrel{4}{2}He?

1. The predictions of Rutherford's scattering formula failed to correspond with experimental data when the energy of the incoming alpha particles exceeded 32MeV. This can be explained by the fact that the predictions of the formula apply when the only force involved is the electromagnetic force...

I Have read a lot recently about Alpha centuri having a planet that's identical to earth. i qquote On January 15, 2010, a team of astronomers released the results of computer simulations indicating that kilometer-size planetesimals can form and accrete into rocky Earth-size planets around...

Homework Statement Calculate the difference between the binding energy of a nucleus of carbon 12 and the sum of the binding energies of three alpha particles. Assuming the carbon 12 is composed of three alpha particles in a triangular structure, with three effective "alpha bonds" joining them...

Homework Statement Calculate the energy released in the alpha neutron reaction for beryllium. The mass of beryllium is 9.012183u. ^{4}_{2}He + ^{9}_{4}Be \rightarrow ^{1}_{0}n + ^{12}_{6}C Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution Tried finding the total binding energy for both...

Homework Statement An alpha particle (a helium nucleus, containing 2 protons and 2 neutrons) starts out with kinetic energy of 10 MeV (10*10^6 eV), and heads in the +x direction straight toward a gold nucleus (containing 79 protons and 118 neutrons). The particles are initially far apart, and...

Rutherford investigated the scattering of alpha particles by gold foil in an evacuated container. The evidence from his investigations led to the nuclear model of the atom. Why was it important for this investigation that the alpha source was inside the container?

N-14 + alpha --> O-17 + proton N-14 + alpha particle --> O-17 + high energy proton alpha particle used was 7.70MeV. Q1. Calculate the energy to be shared in the interaction. Q2. Explain why the proton cannot take all of the available energy. The following date is given for...

Homework Statement A plutonium-239 nucleus, initially at rest, undergoes alpha decay to produce a uranium-235 nucleus. The uranium-235 nucleus has a mass of 3.90 x 10-25 kg, and moves away from the location of the decay with a speed of 2.62 x 105 m/s. Determine the minimum electric potential...

Do we know why radioactive nuclei only decay through emission of alpha and beta particles? There is spontaneous fission in some cases, of course, but what I mean to ask is, why should just a proton or just a neutron or a particle X with 2 protons and 3 neutrons, or whatever else not be emitted...

I am looking to source (build) a large alpha particle generator that creates (mostly) He++ and not He+ particles. Thanks.

Homework Statement If you were given 4 cookies, each emitter different ray 1)Alpha, 2)Beta,3) Gamma , 4)neutron You have to make decision of the following: a)eat one of the cookies b)dispose one of the cookies at storage facility called WHIP c)put one of the cookies in your pocket...