this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2024
540 points (100.0% liked)
196
17237 readers
952 users here now
Be sure to follow the rule before you head out.
Rule: You must post before you leave.
Other rules
Behavior rules:
- No bigotry (transphobia, racism, etc…)
- No genocide denial
- No support for authoritarian behaviour (incl. Tankies)
- No namecalling
- Accounts from lemmygrad.ml, threads.net, or hexbear.net are held to higher standards
- Other things seen as cleary bad
Posting rules:
- No AI generated content (DALL-E etc…)
- No advertisements
- No gore / violence
- Mutual aid posts require verification from the mods first
NSFW: NSFW content is permitted but it must be tagged and have content warnings. Anything that doesn't adhere to this will be removed. Content warnings should be added like: [penis], [explicit description of sex]. Non-sexualized breasts of any gender are not considered inappropriate and therefore do not need to be blurred/tagged.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on our matrix channel or email.
Other 196's:
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I did not know that neutrons could penetrate farther than gamma rays by their virtue of being neutral. Also never heard gamma rays be called y-rays. Wonder what the z-rays will be if we ever name any.
γ is the Greek letter gamma. Those are γ-rays, not y-rays.
So why are X-rays the only ones that are just X if the rest are Greek
In an 1895 paper, Röntgen used "X" to label an unknown type of radiation. And the name stuck, despite his later objections. (Some languages do call them Röntgen rays.)
German for example does this.
Ix-Strahlung certainly doesn't roll off the tongue.
Here's a link with more details on the story
The "y" you're seeing on the table is actually γ, or lower-case gamma!
Did not know about the neutrons either as well as gamma rays having the same penetration as x-rays. Was always taught gamma radiation is insta toast no matter what kind of protection.