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Which metal would you need to bombard with electrons to get gamma radiation?


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Posted
3 hours ago, ALine said:

Is there a metal out there you can bombard with electrons to get gamma radiation?

It’s far easier to get x-rays this way. 

Posted
9 hours ago, ALine said:

Is there a metal out there you can bombard with electrons to get gamma radiation?

I don’t think so. 

Posted
10 hours ago, ALine said:

Is there a metal out there you can bombard with electrons to get gamma radiation?

X-rays and gamma rays are human-made classifications. They overlap with frequencies/energies. Classically, x-rays are photons emitted by electrons transitioning to a lower and/or to ground state of an element, and gamma radiation is emitted by an excited nucleus transitioning to a lower and/or to ground state. Sometimes X-rays have higher energy than gamma radiation, usually they have lower. To say more you need to know the number of protons in the nucleus and the atomic mass.

If a particle strikes a nucleus with a kinetic energy higher than 1.022 MeV, production of an electron-positron pair occurs, ending in annihilation, which produces gamma rays..

 

Posted (edited)
23 minutes ago, Sensei said:

X-rays and gamma rays are human-made classifications. They overlap with frequencies/energies. Classically, x-rays are photons emitted by electrons transitioning to a lower and/or to ground state of an element, and gamma radiation is emitted by an excited nucleus transitioning to a lower and/or to ground state. Sometimes X-rays have higher energy than gamma radiation, usually they have lower. To say more you need to know the number of protons in the nucleus and the atomic mass.

I knew this (that the distinction between x-rays and gamma radiation is how they are produced and not their wavelength, frequency, or energy),

 

23 minutes ago, Sensei said:

If a particle strikes a nucleus with a kinetic energy higher than 1.022 MeV, production of an electron-positron pair occurs, ending in annihilation, which produces gamma rays..

but had forgotten this (that the kinetic energy alone of the electron striking the nucleus could provide gamma radiation).

 

Edited by KJW

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