How Do Scientists Determine the Long-Term Risks from Radiation?

What Is Ionizing Radiation?

What is radiation?

What is ionization?

How is ionizing radiation measured?

The variety of units used to measure radiation and radioactivity at times confuses even scientists, if they do not use them every day. It may be helpful to keep in mind the purpose of various units. There are two basic reasons to measure radiation: the study of physics and the study of the biological effects of radiation. What creates the complexity is that our instruments measure physical effects, while what is of interest to some are biological effects. A further complication is that units, as with words in any language, may fade from use and be replaced by new units.

Radiation is not a series of distinct events, like radioactive decays, which can be counted individually. Measuring radiation in bulk is like measuring the movement of sand in an hourglass; it is more useful to think of it as a continuous flow, rather than a series of separate events. The intensity of a beam of ionizing radiation is measured by counting up how many ions (how much electrical charge) it creates in air. The roentgen (named after Wilhelm Roentgen, the discoverer of x rays) is the unit that measures the ability of x rays to ionize air; it is a unit of exposure that can be measured directly. Shortly after World War II, a common unit of measurement was the roentgen equivalent physical (rep), which denoted an ability of other forms of radiation to create as many ions in air as a roentgen of x rays. It is no longer used, but appears in many of the documents examined by the Advisory Committee.

What are the basic types of ionizing radiation?

Alpha particles are clusters of two neutrons and two protons each. They are identical to the nuclei of atoms of helium, the second lightest and second most common element in the universe, after hydrogen. Compared with other forms of radiation, though, these are very heavy particles--about 7,300 times the mass of an electron. As they travel along, these large and heavy particles frequently interact with the electrons of atoms, rapidly losing their energy. They cannot even penetrate a piece of paper or the layer of dead cells at the surface of our skin. But if released within the body from a radioactive atom inside or near a cell, alpha particles can do great damage as they ionize atoms, disrupting living cells. Radium and plutonium are two examples of alpha emitters.

Beta particles are electrons traveling at very high energies. If alpha particles can be thought of as large and slow bowling balls, beta particles can be visualized as golf balls on the driving range. They travel farther than alpha particles and, depending on their energy, may do as much damage. For example, beta particles in fallout can cause severe burns to the skin, known as beta burns. Radiosotopes that emit beta particles are present in fission products produced in nuclear reactors and nuclear explosions. Some beta-emitting radioisotopes, such as iodine 131, are administered internally to patients to diagnose and treat disease.

Gamma and x-ray radiation consists of packets of energy known as photons. Photons have no mass or charge, and they travel in straight lines. The visible light seen by our eyes is also made up of photons, but at lower energies. The energy of a gamma ray is typically greater than 100 kiloelectron volts (keV--"k" is the abbreviation for kilo, a prefix that multiplies a basic unit by 1,000) per photon, more than 200,000 times the energy of visible light (0.5 eV). If alpha particles are visualized as bowling balls and beta particles as golf balls, photons of gamma and x-radiation are like weightless bullets moving at the speed of light. Photons are classified according to their origin. Gamma rays originate from events within an atomic nucleus; their energy and rate of production depend on the radioactive decay process of the radionuclide that is their source. X rays are photons that usually originate from energy transitions of the electrons of an atom. These can be artificially generated by bombarding appropriate atoms with high-energy electrons, as in the classic x-ray tube. Because x rays are produced artificially by a stream of electrons, their rate of output and energy can be controlled by adjusting the energy and amount of the electrons themselves. Both x rays and gamma rays can penetrate deeply into the human body. How deeply they penetrate depends on their energy; higher energy results in deeper penetration into the body. A 1 MeV ("M" is the abbreviation for mega, a prefix that multiplies a basic unit by 1,000,000) gamma ray, with an energy 2,000,000 times that of visible light, can pass completely through the body, creating tens of thousands of ions as it does.

A final form of radiation of concern is neutron radiation. Neutrons, along with protons, are one of the components of the atomic nucleus. Like protons, they have a large mass; unlike protons, they have no electric charge, allowing them to slip more easily between atoms. Like a Stealth fighter, high-energy neutrons can travel farther into the body, past the protective outer layer of the skin, before delivering their energy and causing ionization.

Several other types of high-energy particles are also ionizing radiation. Cosmic radiation that penetrates the Earth's atmosphere from space consists mainly of protons, alpha particles, and heavier atomic nuclei. Positrons, mesons, pions, and other exotic particles can also be ionizing radiation.