Why are some wavelengths of EM radiation dangerous, and others not?

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As I understand it, the only real difference between radio, visible light, x-ray and everything in between is its wavelength. For instancew, radio has a very long wavelength, x-ray very short, visible in the middle somewhere. This means that radio can penetrate stuff (matter?) more effectively, among other things.

Radio waves are (essentially?) harmless, but shorter wavelengths are famously more dangerous, from sunburn all the way to straight up cancer and so forth. Why is that?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

The wavelength and energy of a photon are directly proportional – if you know one you can compute the other. The dangerous part to life is when a photon has enough energy to knock an electron off of an atom. We call this “ionizing” radiation as it makes an otherwise neutral atom have a charge, an ion. This makes the atom want to get a new electron, and it can do so by effectively “stealing” it from another atom. In a chemical, this can cause it to break in ways that make it no longer function as intended.

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