The classic experiment that made it possible to detect the complex composition of radioactive radiation is shown in the figure below. The radiation of a radium preparation placed at the bottom of a narrow channel in a piece of lead was affected by a strong magnetic field with lines of induction perpendicular to the beam. A photographic plate was positioned perpendicular to the channel. The entire installation was placed in a vacuum. The deflection of the beam determined the charge of the particles that make up it.
Discovery of radioactivity.
The phenomenon of radioactivity was discovered by Becquerel in 1896 during his studies of the luminescence of uranium salts: he discovered the spontaneous emission of unknown radiation. The study of other chemical elements for radioactivity allowed in 1898 Maria Sklodowska-Curie in France (and other scientists) to detect the glow of thorium, and then isolate an unknown element — polonium (named after the birthplace of Marie Curie — Poland). After some time, the element radium was discovered, giving very intense radiation. The phenomenon of spontaneous radiation at the suggestion of Marie and Pierre Curie was called radioactivity. Soon E. Rutherford and the curies established that radioactive radiation consists of three types of rays: α-rays consisting of positive α-particles (which are helium nuclei), β-rays, or negatively charged β-particles (which turned out to be electrons), and γ-rays that do not have a charge, which turned out to be gamma-quanta (hard electromagnetic radiation).
The classic experiment that made it possible to detect the complex composition of radioactive radiation is shown in the figure below. The radiation of a radium preparation placed at the bottom of a narrow channel in a piece of lead was affected by a strong magnetic field with lines of induction perpendicular to the beam. A photographic plate was positioned perpendicular to the channel. The entire installation was placed in a vacuum. The deflection of the beam determined the charge of the particles that make up it.
The classic experiment that made it possible to detect the complex composition of radioactive radiation is shown in the figure below. The radiation of a radium preparation placed at the bottom of a narrow channel in a piece of lead was affected by a strong magnetic field with lines of induction perpendicular to the beam. A photographic plate was positioned perpendicular to the channel. The entire installation was placed in a vacuum. The deflection of the beam determined the charge of the particles that make up it.