I’ve tried to research this before, but I’m not all that knowledgeable of biology. It took me forever to realize that cancer is just basically erratic cells that deprive the rest of the body resources while also putting strain on organs, etc. I understand the concept of HOW radiation comes into being (sort’ve) but I guess I’m just really confused on what about radiation is so deadly/dangerous. What does it to do the body to give such a horrific response? (Please feel free to dumb it down as much as possible. Biology and chemistry are not my strong suit lol)
Edit: I also just saw a post from 7 years ago that kinda addressed it but all those fancy terms just flew over my head. So uh, how about literally explain this concept to me like I’m 5.
In: Biology
There are many types of radiation. Many of them are harmless. Microwave radiation, for instance, is only harmful if you get so much of it in one place that it heats up your body and burns you.
The type of radiation you’re discussing, primarily found during high-energy reactions like nuclear chemistry, has a lit of energy. Each individual particle (photon, electron, or whatever) has enough energy to knock the electron off of an atom.
This is important because when an electron is knocked off of an atom, it usually can no linger stay in whatever molecule it was in – this molecule must be rearranged a bit. If this molecule is super important, like DNA, then it being broken is really bad. The cell is damaged and will behave erratically. Normally our cell can repair itself, but it is imperfect and enough radiation will eventually cause cancer by chance.
Radiation poisoning comes from even larger doses of radiation. So many cells die all at once that various important bodily functions just turn off.
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