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Measuring and Detecting Radioactivity
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What affec...
3 years ago
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4 Replies
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1949 views
Collin Hegmann
4 Answers
Physics and Maths tutor with 20 years teaching experience & IB Examiner
Gamma ray is not a particle. It is an electromagnetic wave so has no effect at all
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Click here to view my profile and arrange a free introduction.Emitting gamma rays has no effect on the charge and the mass number.
they dont have an affect
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Actually, I do not agree with the previous replies. There are exotic reactions where gamma rays affect the nucleus. These are a special class of reactions called photonuclear reactions. For instance, if you impinge a beam of gamma rays with well-defined energy the nucleus can absorb it and emit either one (gamma-n reaction) or two neutrons (gamma-2n reaction). This is a brief answer but there is a lot more detail to it. Furthermore, emitting neutrons from the nucleus obviously changes the mass thereof. The shorthand for these reactions is:
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