The weak penetration of alpha radiation gives it some interesting properties.
The first being that it is very difficult to detect because it will literally be stopped by air alone after a short distance. So to use an alpha detector and find alpha contamination you have to put the detector within like an inch or so of the contamination. This is very different from say gamma radiation which you could detect from across a room or even further.
Second, it is an very large particle. An alpha radiation particle is basically the helium molecule without any electrons so it's 2 protons and 2 neutrons (iifc). Compare this to beta radiation which is a single electron. As we know protons are thousands of times larger than an electron, and an alpha particle has 2 of them . So it has a lot of mass.
So what does this mean practically for working around alpha radiation?
Well first that it's difficult to detect if you have contamination on the surface of the body, since you need to have a special alpha detector ( which are rare) and basically slowing and carefully frisk each inch of the body. Luckily in the wild alpha contamination usually coexist with beta contamination which is much easier to detect.
Second, if it was to get INSIDE the human body, it would be nearly impossible to detect because the particles would not be able to make it outside to ping the detector . If you were to eat it for example. This why there is no eating or drinking allowed in nuclear power plants , to reduce the risk of contamination entering the body.
Due to the very large mass of the particle, it can't go very far but what it does hit it destroys. For the epidermis that is no concern because you have 4-5 layers of skin that take damage all the time and aren't concerned. But for something less protected like your internal organs, you would take fatal organ damage pretty quickly.
So polonium -210 is a very special isotope of polonium because it's an alpha emitters only. So special in fact it's not a natural element so to speak, and can only be created using a nuclear reactor. However due to alphas weak penetration, you could smuggle polonium through any airport by simply concealing in a vial of water, no particles would ever escape the water to ping a detector and thus its undetectable.
This is of course exactly what happened to Alexander L, who was poisoned by the Russian government in 2006. Polonium was smuggled out of Russia in a vial of water and put into tea that Alexander drank. The alpha radiation ripped him apart inside while being completely undetected outside, and he died.
The weak penetration of alpha radiation gives it some interesting properties.
The first being that it is very difficult to detect because it will literally be stopped by air alone after a short distance. So to use an alpha detector and find alpha contamination you have to put the detector within like an inch or so of the contamination. This is very different from say gamma radiation which you could detect from across a room or even further.
Second, it is an very large particle. An alpha radiation particle is basically the helium molecule without any electrons so it's 2 protons and 2 neutrons (iifc). Compare this to beta radiation which is a single electron. As we know protons are thousands of times larger than an electron, and an alpha particle has 2 of them . So it has a lot of mass.
So what does this mean practically for working around alpha radiation?
Well first that it's difficult to detect if you have contamination on the surface of the body, since you need to have a special alpha detector ( which are rare) and basically slowing and carefully frisk each inch of the body. Luckily in the wild alpha contamination usually coexist with beta contamination which is much easier to detect.
Second, if it was to get INSIDE the human body, it would be nearly impossible to detect because the particles would not be able to make it outside to ping the detector . If you were to eat it for example. This why there is no eating or drinking allowed in nuclear power plants , to reduce the risk of contamination entering the body.
Due to the very large mass of the particle, it can't go very far but what it does hit it destroys. For the epidermis that is no concern because you have 4-5 layers of skin that take damage all the time and aren't concerned. But for something less protected like your internal organs, you would take fatal organ damage pretty quickly.
So polonium -210 is a very special isotope of polonium because it's an alpha emitters only. So special in fact it's not a natural element so to speak, and can only be created using a nuclear reactor. However due to alphas weak penetration, you could smuggle polonium through any airport by simply concealing in a vial of water, no particles would ever escape the water to ping a detector and thus its undetectable.
This is of course exactly what happened to Alexander L, who was poisoned by the Russian government in 2006. Polonium was smuggled out of Russia in a vial of water and put into tea that Alexander drank. The alpha radiation ripped him apart inside while being completely undetected outside, and he died.
A very impractical murder, but very unique.