Physics 2 - Radioactivity Safety

Radioactivity Safety

• Alpha, beta and gamma radiation will carefully enter living cells and colide with molecules.
• These collisions cause ionisation, which damages or destroys the molecules.
• Lower doses tend to cause minor damage without killing the cell.
• Higher dises tend to kill cells completely, which causes radiation sickness if a lot of body cells get blatted at once.
• The extent of the harmful effects depends on two things:

1) How much exposure you have to the radiation.

2) The energy and penetration of the radiation, since some types are more hazardous than     others, of course.

Outside the body, beta and gamma sources are the most dangerous. This is because beta and gamma can get inside to the delicate…