Research about the Radiation Safety - Essay Example

This paper aims at discussing radiation and its safety, how radiation can be measured, how it affects the lives of human beings and how these negative effects can be reduced. Radiation is majorly categorized into either non-ionizing or ionizing radiation. This classification is done in accordance to whether the radiation ionizes or does not ionize common compound matter. A radiation that ionizes ordinary chemical matter is referred to as ionizing radiation while that that does not cause ionization to chemical matter is known as non-ionizing radiation.

The term radiation is under various circumstances used in referring to ionizing radiations. The most common forms of ionizing radiation are X-rays and gamma rays (Gale and Lax 123). However, radiation might also be used in referring to non-ionizing radiations such as microwaves, radio waves, heat, or visible light. During radiation, wave radiate or particles travel away from the source in every direction. This characteristic enables a technique of physical units and measurements applicable in both ionizing and non-ionizing radiations (Pettigrew 98).

Both forms of radiation’s power trail an inverse-square law that relates to its source’s distance. This is because of the fact that both types of radiation tend to expand as they travel through space. This law only applies when the radiation is travelling in a vacuum. Radiation with the required high energy has the capability of knocking electrons off atoms thus creating ions. As much as both types of radiations can be dangerous to living organisms, ionizing radiation is by far more dangerous per unit of energy deposited.

This is because even the powers from law ionizing radiations have the capability of causing DNA damage in living things. Because the cells of living things and DNA in the cell can be negatively affected by the ionization, then this type of radiation can easily lead to higher chances of getting cancer. Given that a single living cell consists of billions of atoms, only a small fraction of the atoms will be affected by radiation with low powers (Gale and Lax 187). Therefore, the possibility of cancer being caused by ionizing radiation on the amount of radiation that has been absorbed and the sensitivity of the tissue or organism.

Particles and photons the energy of more than 10 electron volts (eV) should be referred to as ionizing. Beta particles, gamma rays, cosmic rays, X-rays, and alpha particles have enough energy that can ionize atoms. Free electrons can also be ionizing due to their ability have attraction with matter. Free electrons might occur as a result of ionization. Ionizing radiations originate from X-ray tubes, radioactive materials, particle accelerators, and some also naturally exist in the environment.

Ionizing radiation is usually invisible and cannot be easily detected by any of the other four human senses. This is the reason as to why the equipment like Geiger counters are always needed to detect the presence of ionizing radiations. Ionizing radiation can be might lead to the production of some visible light when they interact with matter, as experienced during radio-luminescence and Cherenkov radiation ionizing radiation can be used in many ways in the field of medicine but can be a health hazard if not used in an appropriate way (Kudriashov 145).

Exposing someone to ionizing radiation can result to the damage of his/ her living tissues. Higher doses of exposure to