eli5 why does riding in an airplane cause radiation exposure? Does the airplane itself not block it?

Question

eli5 why does riding in an airplane cause radiation exposure? Does the airplane itself not block it?

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Answer 1

The airplane walls are pretty thin and made from a light metal, so no, they don’t block much radiation. This exposure is very low though, because the Earth’s magnetic field blocks most of space radiation anyway. Radiation exposure on interplanetary space missions is a whole other deal though.