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Exposure can be from a source of radiation external to the human body or due to internal irradiation caused by the ingestion of radioactive contamination. Ionizing radiation is widely used in industry and medicine, and can present a significant health hazard by causing microscopic damage to living tissue.
Number of chest X-rays resulting in same effective dose Skull radiography (X-ray) 0.015 1 Chest X-ray 0.013 1 Lumbar spine X-ray 0.44 30 Abdomen X-ray 0.46 35 Pelvis X-ray 0.48 35 Screening mammography (4 views) 0.2 15 Dental X-ray (intraoral) 0.013 1 Diagnostic fluoroscopy: barium swallow 1 70 Cardiac angiography 7 500 Head CT 2 150 Chest CT 10
This may result in infections, due to a low number of white blood cells, bleeding, due to a lack of platelets, and anemia, due to too few red blood cells in circulation. [3] These changes can be detected by blood tests after receiving a whole-body acute dose as low as 0.25 grays (25 rad ), though they might never be felt by the patient if the ...
Radioactive contamination can be due to a variety of causes. It may occur due to the release of radioactive gases, liquids or particles. For example, if a radionuclide used in nuclear medicine is spilled (accidentally or, as in the case of the Goiânia accident, through ignorance), the material could be spread by people as they walk around.
Exposure to electromagnetic rays such as x-rays and gamma rays can, depending on the time exposed, cause sterility, genetic defects, premature ageing and death. [ 12 ] Non-ionising radiation is the terms used to describe the part of the electromagnetic spectrum covering 'Optical radiation', such as ultraviolet light and 'electromagnetic fields ...
As a result of their usage and exposure to radiation, the effects on metals and concrete are particular areas of study. For metals, exposure to radiation can result in radiation hardening which strengthens the material while subsequently embrittling it (lowers toughness , allowing brittle fracture to occur).
Unprotected experiments in the U.S. in 1896 with an early X-ray tube (Crookes tube), when the dangers of radiation were largely unknown.[1]The history of radiation protection begins at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries with the realization that ionizing radiation from natural and artificial sources can have harmful effects on living organisms.
In the "1951 Recommendations" the commission recommended a maximum permissible dose of 0.5 roentgen (0.0044 grays) in any 1 week in the case of whole-body exposure to X and gamma radiation at the surface, and 1.5 roentgen (0.013 grays) in any 1 week in the case of exposure of hands and forearms. [1]