Why is beta and alpha penetration power different?

Answer 1

Beta and alpha are two different things. Beta has negative charges, Alpha has positive. Now the thing is that their ionizing powers also differ. Alpha has extremely HIGH ionizing power whereas Beta has comparatively less (gamma has no ionizing power). Basically alpha ionizes the particles around it very fast and there fore it cannot proceed further into the material, whereas Beta has less ionizing power and can therefore travel farther into the material as the particles around it don't get ionized as fast as alpha. (this is the same reason why gamma has such high penetration power, because it doesn't ionize substances at all). Basically alpha has least penetration power as the ionizing power is most, Beta has medium ionizing and penetration power (compared to alpha and gamma) Gamma has most penetration power as it's ionizing power is least. Hope that answers the question.