Why exactly is radiation bed and what harm can it do?!


Question: Why exactly is radiation bed and what harm can it do?
Reading about Japan's power plant and all of the radiation. I know radiation is very bad, but I'm not really sure WHY it's bad. What could the radiation to to everyone? Stupid question... I know. lol

Answers:

This far from a stupid question.

Radiation takes various forms from electromagnetic waves like gamma, x-ray, ultraviolet etc, and various sub-atomic particles like neutrons, beta (electrons) and alpha (helium nucleus). These rays and particles become absorbed by various parts of the human body and interact with the body's cells causing various forms of biological damage. Some of this damage includes triggering cancer in the cell or complete destruction of the cell.



Radiation is short for "ionizing radiation", which can and does damage DNA. So it increases the risk of cancer in all the organisms that:
- have DNA,
- do not have multiple copies of their DNA in each cell for repair purposes,
- do not have ring-shaped DNA, which are easier to find a break on, and repair,
- do not have the ability to process telomerase, for repair of DNA damage (like our sex cells can).

The issue for average folks outside the reactor, is what neutron or alpha emitters are released from the reactor that might be ingested, and damage things like lung tissue (plutonium dust), thyroid glands (radioactive iodine), or bone marrow (strontium-90).



I have read that the radiation may cause burns or even cancer.




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