Question

Is there any general relation between the amount of charge possesses and its range in air? Were any bremsstrahlung produced in an experiment of absorption of beta particles ? How may bremsstrahlung production be minimized?

Answer 1

The range of charged particle is affected by the loss of energy per unit length, a particle having a higher charge value would lose more energy for the same distance as for the particle having low charge value because particle having higher charge value would interact strongly with matter and lose its energy in various forms like ionization of atoms, collision loss, radiative loss (Bremsstrahlung) and interaction with orbital electrons and hence strong deceleration of charged particles would be observed.

Bremsstrahlung is a process in which Electromagnetic Radiation (EM) is produced by the deceleration of charged particles. In Beta particle absorption experiment, beta particles slow down (decelerate) while interacting with the shielding material, producing EM radiation.

Bremsstrahlung can be minimized by using shielding material having lower atomic mass because such material would not decelerate beta particles as effectively as a shielding material having heavier atomic mass.