4 ms·

Yeah. Because it's not as if there are different kinds of radiation, or anything.

• Groxx 16y ago
  And the dangers of these multiple kinds of radiation are...? Damage to cells and damage to DNA. One is repaired. Modifying protein structures results in one of the above, as does causing higher energy molecular interactions potentially causing abnormal chemicals for a particular area. We've now covered every effect radiation can have on your body. One is guaranteed permanent and thus cumulative. One is not, and is only dangerous in higher degrees, and by the time that gets high enough to kill you, you've suffered massive genetic damage and will probably die anyway from cancers. All this of course is ignoring the possibility of radiation creating prions. I've heard of no studies which have found this to be the case, so I don't include it. And they cause cellular or genetic damage as well, so they're still accounted for, just more remotely. The different kinds of radiation effectively just determine how much damage (energy of the particle / wave) and how far they penetrate. ie, alpha particles typically only penetrate up to a few centimeters, but have massively more energy, while gamma rays can easily pass through you entirely, with beta particles roughly in between.