Question: How can radiation affect the human body?

Carol White answered on 25 Jun 2012:

Oh wow, that’s a big question!

A quick whizz round my head and I’ll try to remember what I can from my Physics lessons at school….

There are three types: alpha, beta and gamma radiation – all of which can be found naturally. This natural “background” radiation isn’t a huge worry as our bodies can cope with it.

So first we have alpha radiation – which is simply “large particles (protons) that move quite slowly so it can’t get through your skin. It’s only really a problem if you were to have alpha radiation going off inside you – directly into your tissue – it may lead to cancerous cells.

Beta raditation is an electron (those particles what whizz around the nucleous of an atom) that moves much faster than an alpha particle and can be a problem if you’re exposed to a high amount.

And finally, Gamma radiation – which is a type of waves – such as xrays and cosmic space rays. We’ve all been exposed to this type in very low doses, but it’s able to pass through most solids and we usually use lead to stop too much of it getting to us!

All three of the above are ionising radiations which means that they can break molecules up into ions (positively or negatively charged particles) which can then go on to interact with other things. In your body, they can interact with your living cells, which could make them mutate, die or become cancerous.

BUT! Radiation is also really useful in science and in everday life. For example, did you know that we lots of things are industrially sterilised with gamma radiation?