RADIATION
In our daily life, we heard about radiation everywhere. Our elder's advice us not to use
mobile too much, do not keep mobile always with you. But we don't know what is
radiation, how it affects us, how it is produced, how to prevent from and many more
the question arises in our mind. So, today's article is about RADIATION.
What is RADIATION?
Generally, it is considered as the emission of energy. But its energy is released in form of
waves or high-speed particles which are invisible to us.
People are exposed to radiation from cosmic rays as well as to radioactive materials found
in the soil, water, food, air and also inside the body.
Radiation made or produce by humans, the aim is to work better in the field of Science [
medicine, chemical industry etc].
RADIOACTIVITY:-
It is a part of Earth. Naturally, the occurring matter is found in the Earth's crust. It is a property exhibited by certain types of matter. We are always exposed to some radioactivity either it is in our biosphere or enters our biosphere. In this, they release energy and subatomic particles spontaneously.
Why we feel warm?
Our body absorbs infrared rays coming from the SUN and make us feel warm. But infrared do not produce ionization in our body tissue, instead of this, it may lead to impairment of some cell or even kill them.
The question arises here, that why we didn't know? How this happen?
We did not know about this because the energy produced is so small in quantity. So we cannot feel it.
RADIOACTIVE DECAY:-
It is a property shown by many naturally occurring elements. In this, an unstable atom loses its energy due to Radiation.
The rate at which radioactive decay is expressed in terms of its half-life. Half-Life it is the time required for half decay of atomic nuclei of a radioactive sample.
Movement of Electromagnetic waves:-
These are the waves which can travel through vacuum or space.
There are two types of RADIATION:-
- IONIZING RADIATION. -------------
- It is produced by unstable atoms. These types of atoms have an excess of energy or mass or both.
- It is a type of energy released by atoms that travel in the form of electromagnetic waves [ gamma rays or X-Rays] or particles [i.e, alpha, beta or neutrons]. Such radiation can remove electrons that is ionize atoms.
- Such radiation whose wavelength is shorter than 125 nanometers is considered as Ionizing.
- There are 7 forms of Electromagnetic radiations, which can last differentiated only based on its wavelength and frequency. They are mentioned below :
- ALPHA PARTICLES
- BETA PARTICLES
- Charged Nuclei
- Indirectly ionizing
- Directly ionizing
- X-RAYS
- GAMMA-RAYS
NON-IONIZING RADIATION.
Such type of electromagnetic radiation which is unable to carry enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules are referred to as Non-Ionizing Radiation.
It does not penetrate deep into our body i.e, cannot reach our tissues but also can increase the risk for damage of eyes and skin. It depends on how much your body get exposure to this. It can cause skin disease like skin cancer, sunburn, cloud vision [catarct].
Following are the Types of Non-Ionizing radiation
- ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
- VISIBLE LIGHT
- INFRARED
- MICROWAVES
- RADIO WAVES
- Very low Frequency
- Extremely low frequency
- Thermal Radiation
- Black body radiation
