A thin layer of radioactive material emitting beta particles is painted on a small conducting sphere. The sphere is then hung on an insulating thread in an evacuated chamber. After 50 days we measure the charge on the sphere and find it to be 4.32 x10^10 positive elementary charges. (The sphere has been kept in an evacuated chamber, so very few charges have leaked off). In a separate experiment with a Geiger counter we find beta particles shooting out at the average rate of 1.00 x10^4 per second.
a. What is the charge of one beta particle
b. what do you think beta particles may be?