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

It all comes down to the amount of energy in the photon.

If I take a bullet and throw it at you, it might sting a little bit but it is not going to do any serious damage. But if I shot you it would obviously be quite serious. The difference is the amount of kinetic energy in the bullet in each case.

Lower wavelength photons have much more energy than higher wavelength photons, so they can do more damage.

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