<p>Which of the following particles has the LEAST mass?</p>
<p>(A) alpha particle
(B) beta particle
(C) proton
(D) neutron
(E) gamma ray</p>
<p>Of the first four, I knew that a beta particle has the least mass, but a gamma ray doesn’t have any mass at all, so I picked E. However, the correct answer is **B<a href=“according%20to%20my%20Barron’s%20book”>/b</a>.</p>
<p>So does a question like that really mean of the particles that HAVE mass, which has the least? Or what?</p>
<p>But beta particles don’t have any mass either according to the chart in Barrons.
I don’t know, sorry.</p>
<p>A beta particle is just a high speed electron; it does have mass, but it’s assumed to be negligible since it’s so small in comparison to the other subatomic particles (protons & neutrons)</p>
<p>But isn’t negligible mass more than no mass at all?</p>
<p>beta… highspeed electron</p>
<p>This is honestly a bad question. This is more of “choose the best answer” question. Since gamma has no mass, then choose beta (mass of electron).</p>
<p>All right, I’ll just assume there won’t be anything that weird on the actual test…</p>
<p>i actually remember the question… and it does suck</p>
<p>The answer is B because gamma rays are not particles. The question states “Which of the following particles”, so E can be ignored.</p>
<p>Well the question actually does make sense. The photoelectric effect refers to the emission of electrons from a metal when light shines on the metal. In this description light is referred to as having wave and particle like properties. From this experiment scientists concluded that the electron and subatomic particles can also have wave in addition to particle like properties. </p>
<p>A gamma ia a neutron so a gamma ray is a stream of neutrons. And neutrons have a greater mass than electrons so B is right</p>
<p>Haha I fell for that one too… gamma ray is electromagnetic radiation, NOT a particle, so yeah…</p>
<p>@MJ582</p>
<p>Gamma rays are not neutrons. They have no mass.</p>
<p>Yeah… I think you’re thinking of alpha radiation, which = a He NUCLEUS? (um, maybe?)</p>
<p>There’s always one stupid question like that. We’ve done some practice tests, and they drive my teacher crazy due to their intentional ambiguity.</p>
<p>I remember seeing this question also. I eliminated it down to B and E, but I put E… now I know why.</p>
<p>yeaa guyys whoa ( puts on dunce cap )</p>
<p>Thats so my bad…I misread/didnt read something in barrons and got wrong info. I did some research and found out there are alpha and beta particles but no gamma particles -_-…I can see now that I’m going to do sooo well on saturday…</p>