Apologies if the tag is wrong!
From what I understand, the radiation doesn’t do squat untill it’s ionized. The way it was explained to me is that the Radiation is the knife, while the ionization is the hand weilding the knife.
So how does it affect the body? I know it does something to our DNA but what does it do specifically?
Bonus Question: What did scifi writers assume Gamma Ray’s would do to Bruce Banner to make him the Hulk, as opposed to what it does IRL and just… kill you.
In: 63
All energy sources radiate energy, usually in electromagnetic waves.
Some of those waves are at very large wavelengths – like radio waves that can measure nearly a meter. Visible light and microwaves radiate at much smaller wavelength, maybe a mm or smaller, but still harmless. It’s can’t really penetrate and disrupt the small delicate stuff inside the cells in our bodies
What you are thinking about whenever you say “radioactivity” is usually X-rays and Gamma rays. Those radiate at a wavelength that is SOOOO tiny that the waves are hardly larger than individual atoms or the smallest molecules.
This means that these waves can penetrate your body and cells, and interfere directly with the DNA in your cells. This can cause them to break, destroy, or mutate. Breaking up cells is bad because they cannot process and regenerate. Mutating is also bad because most cells will just die, but a few will mutate in a way that forms cancerous cells that can take over your body.
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