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 is a function of energy. Low frequency wavelengths have low energy. High frequency radiation has high energy. So gama radiation is very high frequency. Radio waves are low frequency.

This is also the reason behind the red-blue shift. “Ultra-violet” means “more blue/purple”. EM radiation that’s more towards the red end of the spectrum is less energetic and less damaging.

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