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A material containing unstable nuclei is considered radioactive. Three of the most common types of decay are alpha, beta, and gamma decay. The weak force is the mechanism that is responsible for beta decay, while the other two are governed by the electromagnetic and nuclear forces. [1] Radioactive decay is a random process at the level of ...
Dose equivalent calculates the effect of radiation on human tissue. [4] This is done using tissue weighting factor, which takes into account how each tissue in the body has different sensitivity to radiation. [4] The effective dose is the risk of radiation averaged over the entire body. [4] Ionizing radiation is known to cause cancer in humans. [4]
[clarification needed] The international symbol for types and levels of ionizing radiation (radioactivity) that are unsafe for unshielded humans. Radiation, in general, exists throughout nature, such as in light and sound. In physics, radiation is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or a ...
Potassium-40 is the largest source of natural radioactivity in animals including humans. A 70 kg human body contains about 140 g of potassium, hence about 140g × 0.0117% ≈ 16.4 mg of 40 K; [7] whose decay produces about 3850 [8] to 4300 disintegrations per second continuously throughout the life of an adult person (and proportionally less in ...
A dose of 100 to 200 rad delivered to the entire body in less than a day may cause acute radiation syndrome (ARS), but is usually not fatal. Doses of 200 to 1,000 rad delivered in a few hours will cause serious illness, with poor prognosis at the upper end of the range. Whole body doses of more than 1,000 rad are almost invariably fatal. [3]
When radioactive compounds enter the human body, the effects are different from those resulting from exposure to an external radiation source. Especially in the case of alpha radiation, which normally does not penetrate the skin, the exposure can be much more damaging after ingestion or inhalation.
Radiation damage is the effect of ionizing radiation on physical objects including non-living structural materials. It can be either detrimental or beneficial for materials. Radiobiology is the study of the action of ionizing radiation on living things, including the health effects of radiation in humans.
The human body contains many types of cells and a human can be killed by the loss of a single tissue in a vital organ [citation needed]. For many short term radiation deaths (3 days to 30 days) the loss of cells forming blood cells (bone marrow) and the cells in the digestive system (wall of the intestines) cause death.