beta particle

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noun Physics.

an electron or positron emitted from an atomic nucleus in a certain type of radioactive decay.

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Origin of beta particle

First recorded in 1900–05

Words nearby beta particle

betamethasone, betamethyl acrolein, beta-naphthylamine, Betancourt, beta-oxidation, beta particle, beta radiation, beta ray, beta receptor, beta rhythm, beta sheet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use beta particle in a sentence

Whether or not beta-version wearables are your thing, some technology is just impossible to ignore (or destroy).
Why Every Home Needs a Drone This Holiday|Charlie Gilbert|December 8, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Trotter graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and became the first black man named to Phi Beta Kappa.
The Fight to Ban ‘Birth of a Nation’|Jack Schwartz|November 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
For starters, the Ello beta launched without any privacy controls or blocking options.
Ello, Is It You We’re Looking For?|Samantha Allen|September 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Indeed, many cutting-edge physicians are manipulating the diet to lower particle number.
The AHA’s Absurd Saturated Fat Obsession|Dr. Barbara H. Roberts|June 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Beta amyloid, which OL-1 is meant to lower, was first implicated in the disease at its identification by Alois Alzheimer in 1906.
Trial Drug Reverses Alzheimer’s Disease in Mice|Elizabeth Lopatto|May 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Acetone is derived from decomposition of diacetic acid, and this in turn from beta-oxybutyric acid by oxidation.
A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis|James Campbell Todd
This, as a piece of pure economics, does not interest the individual employer a particle.
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
I can tell you, my dear idealist—you have not changed a particle, by the way—that there is another side you have never seen.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
Let us conceive a particle of air situated immediately over the earth's polar axis.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
Then let us imagine the particle moving toward the equator with the speed of an ordinary wind.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler

British Dictionary definitions for beta particle

beta particle

noun

a high-speed electron or positron emitted by a nucleus during radioactive decay or nuclear fission

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for beta particle

beta particle

A high-speed electron or positron, usually emitted by an atomic nucleus undergoing radioactive decay. Beta particles are given off naturally by decaying neutrons in radioactive atoms and can be created in particle accelerators. Beta particles have greater speed and penetrating power than alpha particles but can be stopped by a sheet of aluminum that is 2 to 3 mm thick. See more at radioactive decay.