OBSERVE: Follow the links at the top... left to right, top to bottom. Thank you.
What is radiation?
What is radiation?
It’s important to understand the term radiation at its most basic level. Simply put, radiation is the transmission of energy from a source to a destination, where it can be measured and its effects determined. The people, plants and animals of earth are exposed to various forms and levels of radiation constantly, from both natural and manmade sources. The majority of radiation occurs naturally, whether from the sun in the form of ultraviolet light, from radon gas released from the soil beneath us, or radioactive elements such as uranium that reside naturally in rocks and soil.
Radiation is divided into two categories: ionizing radiation and nonionizing radiation. While we’re exposed to both kinds of radiation every day, we’re most familiar with nonionizing radiation. Nonionizing radiation is low energy, long frequency, long wavelength and includes visible light, radio waves, infrared light and microwaves. Ionizing radiation is very high energy, high frequency, short wavelength and includes some UV light, X-rays and gamma rays. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to penetrate many solid materials, and has the potential to change the atomic structure of the materials with which it interacts, making it hazardous to organic life.
