From: Edmund Storms
It would help if you used the definition of gamma ray correctly.
Ed, I'm afraid that it us you who is not up to date on the semantics of
gamma radiation.
Gamma radiation these days is independent of origin, and is merely high
energy per photon. Apparently, you are unaware of the change in usage.
X-rays have a wavelength in the range of .01 to 10 nanometers, with energies
in the range 100 eV to 100 keV. These wavelengths are of course shorter than
UV and longer than gamma rays. Gamma radiation refers to radiation under .01
nm regardless of its source. You and I were taught that it had to be of
nuclear origin - that is not longer the case - even if most of the time
atomic nuclei are involved. Gammas also created by other processes,
especially cosmologically where the most intense radiation seldom involves
nuclei per se. Most gamma in the Universe come from gravitational collapse -
neutron star, quark star, or black hole. None of these have nuclei per se.
Natural sources of gamma which are not of a nuclear origin are lightning
strikes. Betatrons etc. can produce gammas directly from electrons which do
not involve a nucleus.
Jones
