Today we talked about radiation. There are three main types of radiation: alpha, beta, and gamma.
- Alpha radiation is so weak that it cannot penetrate a piece of paper, and is a helium nucleus. This type of radiation would have to be ingested to be lethal. A recent incident involving this type of radiation, the poisoning of Russian ex-KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko, was caused by alpha radiation from the element Polonium-210.
- Beta radiation is capable of passing through a piece of paper, but would not be able to pass through much more than that. Beta radiation can penetrate farther than alpha, but not as far as gamma radiation. It is also a particle.
- Gamma radiation, on the other hand is not a particle and has a much greater radius than alpha and beta radiation. Alpha radiation would only be able to kill you if it got inside you, whereas beta and gamma radiation would be able to kill you externally. Radiation kills by depleting the body’s bone marrow and white blood cells.
Some good shields against radiation are lead and water. Water is the most common shield, and is used in nuclear reactors.
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