People and Ionizing Radiation

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The Effects of RadiationIonizing radiation is harmful to living organisms because it cause ionization within the cells.In Chemistry, the ions are very chemically reactive and can cause a series of undesirable reactions such as damaging the cell.An example of this is the vial of radium in Pierre Curie’s pocket which result to later skin damage. Marie Curie her wife, died also because of malignant blood disease because of her exposure to radiation.

Accidents have also led to the loss over 300 lives due to exposure to high doses of radiation.

I’m warning you !The next slides would release the inner UHHH in you !

The Dose level A whole body, one-time exposure to a dose of around four

gray is already lethal and therefore leads to death of the person exposed to radiation.

Cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy on the other hand are given a daily dose a little bit below this lethal dose.

Note : The total dose they receive for the entire treatment is several times greater than the lethal dose. The target of this dose is the cancer cells and not the whole organism.

Organ SensitivityThese organs are said to be vulnerable to radiation.

Acute versus Long-Term Effects

The acute effects of radiation happens within one or two months after exposure to radiation.

Apart from the damage to the reproductive organs and the lens of the eye, there will also be damage to the bone marrow, the digestive system and to the nervous central system.

The effect of radiation that appear months, or even years after exposure to radiation are called DELAYED or long term effects.Examples: Leukemia Formation of cancerous tumors.

Radiation StandardsThe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) made a graph to show the probability of incurring a severe radiation defect.

Note: the scale used in the graph are in the power of tens. These means that for a particular dose, there is the probability that 1 in every 10 000 will incur sever radiation effects.

Some scientist do not all agree with the shape of the curve particularly in the low dose region. Some argue that even minute amounts of any radiation are harmful to life.

Radiation ApplicationRadium was then added to the dial of wristwatches to make them glow in the dark.

Small amounts of radium was also added to what was supposed to be a “miracle drink”.

Other application of radiation is to harness the power of the atom for power generation and military weapons.

The peaceful applications came in less than a decade after the bomb was exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki .

It is said that in no other field of Physics where the applications developed as quickly as that of radioactivity and nuclear energy.

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