Radiation
What is radiation?
Radiation is energy that travels as particles or waves and can be naturally occurring or man-made. It is all around us in various forms ranging from radio waves to x-rays to cosmic radiation.
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We gain benefits from this energy and we classify these energies into two main types:
- Non-ionizing radiation has enough energy to excite atoms (making them move more rapidly). Examples of non-ionizing sources include microwave ovens, radio transmissions, cell phones, and visible light.
- Ionizing radiation has enough energy to change atoms by remove electrons from them, a process called ionization. Examples of ionizing sources are X-rays, nuclear power plants, and smoke detectors.
There are three main kinds of ionizing radiation:
- alpha particles, which include two protons and two neutrons
- beta particles, which are essentially high-speed electrons
- gamma rays and x-rays, which are pure energy (photons)
Additional reading
How Radiation Isn’t Killing You : Discovery News (Oct 2013)
Daily ultraviolet radiation doses from sunlight vary by latitude and season. Credit: NOAA
Read more about nuclear science
