can you tell me the following about gamma rays?

Question

*what vibrates to make the wave
*how big are the waves
* wave length
*what will stop the waves
*why are they radioactive and what does that mean (radioactive)

Answer 1

Gamma rays are just high energy light. They are just another form of electromagnetic radiation, just like visible light, microwaves, infrared waves, x-rays, etc...Gamma rays are the most powerful of all forms of electromagnetic radiation.

what vibrates:
Nothing, Gamma rays and all other electromagnetic radiations are created by sub-atomic particle interactions, ie nuclear fusion, fission, radioactive decay, antimatter annihilation, etc...

how big and wavelength are the same question:
gamma rays start at around 10^-11 meters and range down to around 10^-17 meters. so between .00000000010 meters and .00000000000000010 meters. pretty small.

what stops them:
Anything material with a high enough atomic number and density. Lead is often used. But the higher the energy of the gamma rays, the more shielding you need obviously.

Why are they radioactive:
They are a form of ionizing radiation, created by a radioactive process but not radioactive themselves. What ionizing radiation means is that they are so energetic, that when they pass by an atom, the gamma rays will actually rip the electrons right out of their orbits around the atoms. Imagine that happening to the atoms in the cells in your body and you can see why that might be a bad thing. the definition of radioactivity is the process by which ustable atomic nuclei emit sub-atomic particles (they RADIATE these other particles, hence radioactivity) Gamma rays are one possible product.

hope this helps

Answer 2

Gamma rays are electromagnetic radiation like the visible light, radio waves, x-rays etc. There is no matter involved in the radiation.

The waves are quite small since their frequency is very high.

The wave length is of the order of an Angstrom or much less. 1 Angstrom is 10 ^ -8 cm or 10 ^ -10 metre.

Gamma rays are high energy waves and pass through paper, cloth, thin walls, a few inches of steel etc. Thick concrete walls, lead, uranium etc. are effective shields. A few metres of water also acts as a shield.

They are not radioactive, they are products of radioactive decay. They cause ionisation in air and in matter and thus cause some damage when absorbed.

Some elements like Uranium, Thorium, Radium are radioactive, i.e. they are unstable and become stable by emitting alpha, beta and gamma rays. Alpha rays are actually particles and are helium nuclei. Beta rays are also particulate and are electrons emitted from the nucleus. Gamma rays are high energy electro-magnetic rays emitted by the nucleus to come to a stable state.

You need to read more about the structure of atom, and radioactivity to understand these topics.

Answer 3

http://imagers.gsfc.nasa.gov/ems/gamma.html