like if things are radioactive what exactly does that mean. is like too much energy coming off? i know it damages our bodies but like how? does it just like kill our cells slowly over time or something?
In: Chemistry
Radiation is a bunch of high energy particles.
They have enough energy to break apart molecules, and that’s why it’s dangerous. If it breaks apart enough molecules vital to your cells, the cells die. This causes a radiation burn (like a sun burn), then radiation sickness, then radiation poison, then death.
There are two types, nuclear radiation and electromagnetic radiation.
Electromagnetic radiation, for the most part, isn’t dangerous. This includes radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, UV, xrays, and gamma rays.
Radio waves, microwaves, infrared, and visible light are all perfectly safe because they do not have enough energy to break apart molecules. High enough intensity can cause burns, but not radiation burns. That’s why your microwave oven has a door and your toaster gets hot, but not dangerous on the scale of radiation.
UV light comes in two flavors, UVA and UVB. UVA is safe, UVB is where EM radiation becomes dangerous. This is what is known as ionizing radiation, because it can knock electrons free of atoms, causing the atom to become an ion. This is why it can break apart molecules.
Everything beyond UV is dangerous because it is all higher energy than the UVB we just talked about.
Nuclear radiation includes any subatomic particles ejected from an atomic nucleus at high speeds.
The most common ones are alpha particles, beta particles, and beta plus particles.
Alpha particles (α) are made of 2 protons and 2 neutrons, a helium nucleus, essentially
Beta (β or β-) particles are electrons
Beta plus (β+) particles are positrons (anti electrons)
Proton and nuetron ejection is also possible from a radioactive nucleus, but it’s much more rare than the other 3.
Radioactive decay can also emit a photon, electromagnetic radiation, which we just talked about, but generally in a radioactive substance you’re more worried the particles than the light.
Neutrinos are also emitted as part of Radioactive decay, but they don’t really interact with much. You are bombarded by trillions every day and there’s no way to avoid it, but they don’t do anything, so there’s nothing to worry about.
As far as staying safe from radiation, wear sunscreen and limit your exposure
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