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We can see from the table above that alpha-particles have a double positive charge and we can therefore easily appreciate that they will exert considerable electrostatic attraction on the outer orbital electrons of atoms near which they pass. The result is that some electrons will be attracted away from their parent atoms and that ions will be produced. In other words ionizations occur.
We can also appreciate from the table that alpha-particles are quite massive relative to the other types of radiation and also to the electrons of atoms of the material through which they are passing. As a result they travel in straight lines through matter except for rare direct collisions with nuclei of atoms along their path.
A third feature of relevance here is the energy with which they are emitted. This energy in the case of alpha-particles is always distinct. For example 221Ra emits an alpha-particle with an energy of 6.71 MeV. Every alpha-particle emitted from this radionuclide has this energy. Another example is 230U which emits three alpha-particles with energies of 5.66, 5.82, 5.89 MeV.
Finally it is useful to note that alpha-particles are very damaging biologically and this is one reason why they are not used for in-vivo diagnostic studies. We will therefore not be considering them in any great detail in this wikibook.
