Risks from Radiation

Risks from Radiation

Beta and gamma can penetrate the skin and cause harm to your cells and organs

Alpha can't penetrate the skin, but that means if it gets inside you it can't get out, it's very highly ionising so would kill you

If radiation enters your body, it will collide with molecules in your cells, these cause ionisation which damages or destroys the molecules

Lower doses tend to just damage the cell, not kill it. This can give rise to mutant cells that divide uncontrollably, this is cancer

Higher doses tend to kill the cell completely, causing radiation…