From my understanding, radiation is just gamma rays which are electromagnetic waves with really high frequency (and energy). While I do understand how they can be harmful when exposed to them (killing off cells etc.), I can’t wrap my head around how does something gets contaminated by radiation and continues to be radioactive sometimes for hundreds of years even when the source of the gamma rays is long gone.
In: Physics
In general, this means that it’s been coated and contaminated with radioactive dust, liquid, or gas. Unless cleaned (which may not be possible), the object will then be radioactive because of the radioactive materials stuck to it.
Nuclear explosions, meltdowns, spills of radioactive waste or material, leaks at nuclear reactors, etc all cause varying levels of this kind of contamination.
An additional issue occurs if a human or animal ingests radioactive materials. Then the radiation is coming from inside your body, and the much more damaging alpha and beta rays (which have little effect from outside) can cause radiation damage.
In general, being exposed to radiation such as gamma rays by itself doesn’t make objects radioactive. However, neutron radiation (mostly produced only by nuclear reactors or bombs) and under certain circumstances powerful gamma radiation can do this.
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