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

“Nuclear” radiation is not just one kind of radiation. It includes some electromagnetic radiation, neutron radiation, beta radiation, alpha radiation, and even neutrinos although those don’t usually get talked about as “nuclear radiation”.

Nuclear radiation is the radiation from nuclear reactions, and it is usually ionizing (strong enough to break molecules and therefore dangerous to humans).

Each of these types of radiation behaves differently. Alpha and beta are horrible for you but cannot penetrate most regular materials. Neutrons can make other things radioactive and are much more capable of penetration. Gamma rays can penetrate a *lot* of material, but this also means they are more likely to pass through your body without hurting it.

You mentioned wifi, electromagnetic radiation. I’m sure you know that microwaves, radio waves, and visible light are all “the same thing”. However, they act very differently, because they are very different versions of the same thing. Gamma radiation is also electromagnetic radiation, but it has a lot more energy in each of its photons. If a photon of radio or visible light hits you, it warms you up a bit because it does not have enough energy to do anything else. If a photon of gamma rays hit you, it busts apart important molecules in your body such as your DNA. That’s not a good thing. This is called *ionizing radiation*.

If you’re exposed to too much *non*-ionizing radiation, you can get burns from the heat. These are very similar to regular old burns from hot water or a hot stove. Ionizing burns, like sunburns or xray burns, are different because the radiation can break apart molecules inside of cells without destroying the cell completely. This can cause cancer. Gamma rays can also pass much deeper into your body, so instead of just damaging your skin they tend to damage *everything*.