Why is radioactivity so dangerous?
Question by NewShower | 2012-05-19 at 05:12
It does not smell. It does not taste. You can not even notice it. But why is it so dangerous, the radioactivity and the radiation?
Can an expert explain that, so that any layman understands it as well?
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Radioactive radiation can cause various things. First, you have to be clear, that radiation has a very high energy and our skin can not stop it. It arises from the decay of radioactive materials.
If now such a "radioactive beam" shoots through your skin, it can happen, that it will just hit your DNA and destroy it. Therein, your genetic information is stored. If this information has now errors or has been broken, it can not reproduce more correct cells and that may cause cancer.
Now, we must realize, that in fact everywhere on the world, there is always a very small amount of radiation and the whole thing is completely normal and the body can also offset some damage to its genetic material. Some theory even assumes, that these random mutations have even made the evolution possible.
It only becomes bad, if you receive too much radiation, because then the protection mechanism deny, because too much has been destroyed. In other words, the higher the radiation, the greater the chance that something important was destroyed.
That is the long-term impact of radioactivity. In the short term, you get the so-called radiation sickness, whose intensity also depends on how much you have suffered. Signs of radiation sickness include headache, nausea, vomiting and even death. Radiation sickness may erupt within hours, days or weeks after the exposure to the radiation.
2012-05-21 at 17:27
Briefly: Radiation may (but need not) cause cell damage and mutations in the genetic material, because the radiation destroys the corresponding information or cells. This can lead to cancer or a tumor formation.
2012-05-23 at 21:50