What is Radiation? How Is It Formed?

The word radiation reminds the majority of society of a great danger. This is mainly because of the accidents happened at nuclear power plants in the past and nuclear bombs that took millions of lives in seconds. The most commonly known accidents include the Chernobyl disaster that happened in 1986 and affected a wide geographical region including Türkiye, the Fukushima Nuclear Accident that happened in 2011, and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, all of which demonstrated the dangers of radiation.

Although many people cannot exactly describe radiation, they would all agree that it is quite dangerous. So, is radiation truly so harmful and something to be avoided at all times? If the disasters mentioned above are the first thing that you think about when we say radiation, you have every right to be scared. However, what would you think if we say that radiation is part of life, and it is even vital for the life as we know it to exist? Let’s take a closer look at what radiation is, how it is formed and when it can become dangerous for human life.

What is Radiation? Is it dangerous?

Radiation is energy that moves from a source in a form that can be described as waves or particles. You are now surrounded by radiant energy. Although microwaves, ultraviolet, infrared and X-rays come to mind when we say radiation, a wide spectrum from radio waves to visible light is described as electromagnetic radiation. In addition to this, alpha and beta particles are among sources of radiation. As you can understand from the examples mentioned, we are always exposed to radiation in our daily lives. Radiation serves purposes in the fields of health, energy, science, and industry, and surprisingly, is also utilized for environmental protection.

Radiation is generally not dangerous, but in certain circumstances, it can pose a significant risk to both nature and human life. What makes radiation harmful is an increase in the power it has. Radiation that has energy high enough to ionize atoms will become dangerous for matters, and especially for living cells.

Another factor that makes radiation dangerous is the duration of exposure. For instance, radiography, i.e. X-rays, are quite strong. Nevertheless, since radiography is not frequently performed, it presents no health risks and typically stays well within the body's tolerance levels. However, frequent radiography may lead to certain dangers due to effects of radiation.

Is Radiation Formed Naturally?

You would need background information on the concepts of natural and artificial radiation in order to understand how radiation is formed. Natural radiation is formed by natural causes such as cosmic background radiation and solar rays. Artificial radiation, on the other hand, is man-made. There are numerous sources of artificial intelligence like microwave ovens, wireless communication systems, X-ray machines, radiography and nuclear power plants.

Types and Sources of Radiation

It is best to group radiation into two main categories, i.e. ionizing and non-ionizing radiation. This also determines if radiation is dangerous or not. If radiation has enough energy, it breaks apart the chemical bonds inside atoms, separating electrons from the atoms. This is called ionization. The atom that loses its electrons becomes ionized. The radiant energy that causes this incident is classified as ionizing radiation. This effect of ionizing radiation is much stronger and penetrating than the superficial electron exchange caused by static electricity. Ionizing radiation that is strong enough to break down the structure of an atom can also destroy the structure of cells and the DNA, which threatens human health. Ionizing radiation is the high-energy fragment of the electromagnetic spectrum, and the particle radiation. The source of ionizing matters is usually radioactive matters. This sort of radiation cannot be detected visually. The Geiger counter is utilized for measuring it, a device familiar to many from films and documentaries.

On the other hand, non-ionizing radiation has no such effect on atoms. So, non-ionizing radiation is considered reliable. However, extended exposure can still lead to various harms. This type of radiation does not pose any risk to your health unless you sunbathe for long hours or plan a space travel for near future. Non-ionizing radiation includes low-energy soft UV, visible light, infrared, microwave, and radio waves.

How Does Radiation Affect Our Health?

The effects that radiation has on human health is still one of the main topics discussed by scientists. The effects of radiation on humans should be discussed based on the type of radiation. Non-ionizing radiation is often harmless for health. However, regular contact with this sort of radiation may lead to some problems. Radiation harms with more impact, on the other hand, are mostly caused by sources of ionizing radiation.

Exposure to high doses of ionizing radiation may harm cells, thus the organs, leading to numerous diseases or even death. The radiation dose limit that a human body can tolerate without any problems in a year was found to be 50 mSv (millisieverts). Some interesting facts about radiation doses exposed and their possible effects:

• A chest tomography exposes you to 0.01-0.03 mSv, a head tomography to 1-3 mSv, and a whole body tomography to 10-20 mSv of radiation.
• The cosmic background radiation is 2.4 mSv per year on average around the world This value increases with the sea level and can vary greatly at different locations around the glove. The highest value measured to date is 800 mSv on Brazilian coasts
• The limit value for which there is evidence that radiation increases the risk of cancer is 100 mSv per year.
• High levels of radiation exposure, measured in Sieverts, frequently lead to health problems that can be fatal. 1000 mSv is the limit value at which 5 people in every 100 is assumed to be diagnosed with terminal cancer The rest would show temporary problems such as nausea and a decrease in white blood cell count.
• Half of people exposed to 5000 mSv would be expected to lose their lives in a month. As this value increases, the life expectancy declines. 10000 mSv is the value at which the exposed person would die in a few weeks.

Is It Possible to Protect Ourselves from Radiation?

We already mentioned that contrary to common belief, radiation is not always dangerous and what is important at most times is the dose of exposure. There are two different factors that affect human life, i.e. natural radiation and artificial radiation. Neither natural nor artificial radiation is found at dangerous levels for us most of the time. Natural radiation is vital for the existence of life. The most effective source of natural radiation is, with no doubt, the Sun. The effects of radiation of this kind are largely mitigated by the atmosphere of the Earth, hence less negative effects on life. Similarly, it is an effective protection method especially in the summer months to avoid exposure to sunlight during hours when sunrays, thus the radiation is most powerful.

As for artificial radiation, it is used in most of the technologies that are integrated in our daily lives. The artificial radiation we are exposed to is often well below the level that a human body can tolerate in a year. Contrary to the common belief in society, using technology such as microwave ovens, X-ray machines, Wi-Fi and cellular networks would not expose you to radiation levels that might adversely affect your health. Radiography, which is one of the cases where a regular person is exposed to radiation in the most powerful way, does not pose a risk for your health as it is done quite rarely; on the contrary, it helps correctly proceed with your treatment.

What To Do In Case of a Nuclear Disaster

If we take a step further about the radiation levels that we might be exposed to, we should talk about nuclear plant accidents. What you need to do in case of a nuclear disaster is get to the safe environment of your house in the shortest time possible and be prepared to stay there for a long time. You should close your doors and windows and stay away. If possible, you should choose to wait in the basement of your building. If you have been outside, you should take a shower as soon as possible and move your clothes away from where you are. If you ask “How can I get rid of the low dose of radiation I was exposed to?”, the best answer is to drink lots of water. You should prefer bottled water and packaged food items, and follow up with the announcements from government authorities.

I hope your opinions on radiation are now clear. Please share your opinions and any interesting thoughts or perspectives you may have by leaving a comment.