Gamma rays have wavelengths shorter than about 10-13 meter and
frequencies higher than 1021 hertz. Unstable nuclei of naturally occurring ( radioactive
substances produced artificially ). It is actually a product of nuclear explosions
The tremendous penetrating power of gamma rays will reflect the large amount of energy
each gamma-ray photon carries .
The energy possessed by a photon is
measured by an electron volt the amount of energy gained by a single electron when it is
influenced by an electrical potential of one volt. We can see how much energy a gamma ray
has by comparing a photon of gamma radiation to photons of microwave and X radiation. The
energy of a photon of microwave radiation is about 0.0004 (4 x 10-4) electron volt. A
photon of gamma radiation carries about 1,000 times more energy than an X-ray photon, or
4,000,000 (4 x 106) electron volts. In other words, an electron that absorbs a photon of X
radiation receives about 10 million times the amount of energy it would receive from a
photon of microwave radiation.
