Is nuclear radiation different from other radiation such as electromagnetic that causes it to be harmful?

Question

Everyone knows nuclear radiation is harmful when exceeding a certain limit. Is it different from other forms of radiation such as electromagnetic radiation from electronic devices? Like if I got blasted with some sort of super WiFi would I be harmed in the same way as nuclear radiation?

In: 5

Answer 1

A bit of history might also prove helpful. The presence of radiation and the three “types” alpha, beta and gamma were discovered BEFORE we discovered protons and neutrons. As such they were classified based on their properties. It has become sort of the things that has been popularized.

As we discovered and understood a bit more about the structure of atoms in the early 1900s, we now know that alpha radiation consists of the nucleus of helium atoms, beta radiation are electrons/positrons and gamma radiation is electromagnetic.

It is perhaps useful to think of it in terms of energy. Humans can tolerate all forms of energy to a degree. There is not a black and white, yes and no answer when there is a question “is it harmful?”.

So if you walk into a door, there is some mechanical energy transferred but it is not likely to harm you long term. But a bullet entering your body which is also a transfer of mechanical energy will very likely cause great harm.

Electromagnetic waves are waves in the electromagnetic field. At certain frequencies we see that as light. Shining a torch on your face won’t likely harm you. Shining a powerful laser on your face WILL likely harm you. As we go higher in frequency, the energy content of each “particle” of electromagnetic energy becomes higher. Very high frequency e-m waves are things like x-rays and gamma rays – these can be harmful if enough is transferred to your body. Radio frequency e-m waves are lower frequency (lower energy per “particle”) than light but if enough are present, it can still harm you.

And you might not know that microwave ovens operate by emitting radiation close to the same frequency range as “wi-fi” – so yes, they can harm you. In practice, though, your wi-fi equipment would need to be around a hundred thousand times more powerful to get close to the output of a microwave oven – and that isn’t going to happen without the wi-fi device melting down first (since the components are not going to tolerate this amount of power)