Why is lights like gamma rays and X-rays dangerous while visible light and radio waves isn’t?
In: Physics
All light has energy in it, the photons are made up of energy. Their energy is in their frequency. Photons deliver their energy to atoms when they hit them.
Regular light has energy in it, you can feel the sun warming up your skin and the ground. The problem is that certain frequencies of light penetrate past your skin.
Ultraviolet can penetrate into your skin a little bit and deliver its energy (heat) to the layers of cells underneath, and that’s what sunburn is.
X-rays can easily penetrate into skin and muscles and organs, and is blocked by bones. So the heat (energy) from X-rays can reach and burn your internal organs.
Gamma rays can penetrate into you even if you’re hiding behind cement or metals (depending on thickness), so they’re even more dangerous.
Radio frequencies do go through us, but the power levels that we use for antennas are very low, and in general the frequency of the photons doesn’t interact with our atoms all that much. The frequency does interact with metal atoms, moving their electrons around, which is why radio is used for communications / with antennas. Cause we can use very low power radio waves to cause electrical signals in the wires and electronics to function.
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