Pierre Curie used tons of it to isolate very small quantities of two new elements,
radium and polonium, both radioactive. Along with Becquerel, the Curies shared
the Nobel Prize in physics in 1903.
THE NATURE OF RADIOACTIVE EMISSIONS
While the early separation experiments were in progress, an understanding was
slowly being gained of the nature of the spontaneous emission from the various
radioactive elements. Becquerel thought at first that there were simply X-rays, but
THREE different kinds of radioactive emission, now called alpha particles, beta
particles, and gamma rays, were soon found. We now know that alpha particles
are positively charged particles of helium nuclei, beta particles are streams of
high-speed electrons, and gamma rays are high-energy radiations similar to X-
rays. The emission of these three types of radiation is depicted below.
Deflection of Radioactive EmissionsTIP
Know the types of radiation and the characteristics of each.The important characteristics of each type of radiation can be summarized as
follows:
Alpha Particle
(helium nucleus ) Positively charged, 2+