Question

Which radioactive emission has the smallest (least) mass? Question options:

Answer 1

Answer:

The answer is D. gamma rays

Explanation:

A radioactive atom can have three different types of emission:

alpha particles (α) = they have a mass of 4 amu and they have a very low penetrating power.

Beta particles (β) = they have 5x$10^{-4}$ amu and they have an intermediate penetrating power

Gamma rays (γ) = they are not particles basically just energy so its mass is ≈ 0 and its penetrating power is higher

For this reason Gamma emissions (γ) has the smallest mass value.