Radiation is a scary word for most people – even scarier than ghosts. We have heard radiation is dangerous and it is really harmful. But what exactly is radiation?
Radiation is the emission of energy by an atom. There are two types of radiation – electromagnetic radiation and nuclear radiation. Electromagnetic radiation consists of radio waves, infrared, microwave, visible light, ultraviolet to x-rays and gamma rays. These are not what people usually mean by radiation except for x-rays and gamma rays. Nuclear radiation is of four types: alpha radiation, beta radiation, gamma radiation and neutron radiation.
Alpha radiation is the emission of two protons and two neutrons by an atom. Alternatively, you could say alpha radiation is the emission of ionised helium by an atom. It is extremely heavy and it can easily be blocked by a thin paper but the impact on the area of collision is huge and it can damage cells on our body.
Beta radiation is the emission of an electron by an atom. It can also be called electron radiation but at the time of naming the types of radiation, electron was not discovered so the name. They are fast moving, light particles. Their impact is not that huge but their high speed can knocked electrons off the atoms and can damage cells and tissues if large doses of them hit us.
Gamma radiation is the emission of high energy photon from the nucleus of an atom. It is similar to an atom giving off light but light with much higher frequency. The energy is so strong that it can knock electrons or protons or neutrons out of the atoms and sometimes it can even split an atom. This is the type of radiation in an electromagnetic pulse.
Neutron radiation is as the name suggests, the emission of neutron by an atom. This may even be the most dangerous radiation. Since neutron is neutral, it can travel for 100s and 1000s of metres without interaction and the impact is also huge because of its heavy mass. This type of radiation can be stopped by using water as a barrier.
You may think radiations are very dangerous but they aren’t at low doses. In fact, we need radiation in order to survive. Everything radiates. You, me, everything radiates. Anything above tbe absolute zero radiates electromagnetic radiation. Our surrounding has always some amount of radiation in it.
Watch this video by Dr Don Lincoln, Particle Physicist, Fermilab to know better with animations.
https://link-to.net/260744/Typesofradiation
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