How does nuclear radiation affect/damage living cells, human or otherwise?

Question

This is referring to nuclear radiation after something like Chernobyl

In: Biology

Answer 1

Ionizing radiation is radiation which have enough energy to split a molecule to form ions. This will cause unwanted chemical reactions which are normally very unlikely to happen. A cell is very exposed to this as it relies heavily on complex stable molecules to function normally. If these molecules suddenly changes the function that this molecule was doing seizes and it is likely that the cell dies. In some cases it can be enough that just a single molecule gets ionized for the cell to die completely.