Radiation Safety Officer – BEO Practice Test 2025 - Free Radiation Safety Questions and Study Guide

Alpha particles are known to have the highest Linear Energy Transfer (LET) among the listed radiation types. LET is a measure of energy deposited by radiation as it travels through a medium, such as tissue. Alpha particles, being relatively heavy and positively charged, interact more readily with matter compared to lighter particles or uncharged radiation.

When alpha particles pass through tissue, they lose energy rapidly over a very short distance, due to their charge and mass, resulting in a high rate of energy deposition. This makes alpha particles highly effective in causing biological damage when they are present within living cells.

In contrast, beta particles are lighter and carry either a positive or negative charge, which leads to a lower LET than alpha particles as they can travel further and deposit energy over a longer distance. Gamma rays, on the other hand, are electromagnetic radiation with no mass or charge, leading to very low LET as they primarily interact with matter through processes such as Compton scattering or photoelectric effects, which involve less direct interactions compared to charged particles. Neutrons, while uncharged, can also have significant LET depending on their energy levels, but generally, they still do not reach the LET levels of alpha particles.

Overall, alpha particles are the most damaging type of radiation regarding short