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Welcome to our Physics lesson on Penetration of Nuclear Radiation in Matter and the Harm Caused by Radiation, this is the eleventh lesson of our suite of physics lessons covering the topic of Nuclear Reactions, you can find links to the other lessons within this tutorial and access additional physics learning resources below this lesson.
Penetration of nuclear radiation in matter is a normal phenomenon because such radiation is produced in closed environments. After all, matter is composed by various atoms and molecules and it is a normal thing that radiation interacts with them - a process which in some cases changes the structure of matter itself.
Sometimes (in ionization radiation), a ionization process takes place in matter. This is the process in which a neutral atom initially neutral, splits (experiences fission) in two oppositely charged ions. Such ionization process may be very powerful, resulting in the generation of a large number of such pairs of ions. They participate actively in chemical reactions, bringing changes in the structure of matter.
When neutrons participate in the process, it becomes more complicated as besides the energy delivered by elastic collisions, neutrons are added in this process by participating in nuclear reactions as well. In this way, new chemical elements may arise. Since they are radioactive, matter experiences radical transformations. Therefore, neutrons are more influential when they pass through matter than when moving in space.
The effects of radiation in matter have their advantages and disadvantages. When the effects produced by nuclear radiation are undesirable, this process causes a lot of harm (for example during the non-controllable explosions). This represents a disadvantage of such reactions. On the other hand, the high amount of energy obtained through nuclear processes represents an advantage of radiation interaction with matter.
However, when discussing about harms caused by nuclear radiation, the focus is on harms caused in living organisms, as this may result in irreparable damage caused in living cells.
As for damages caused by nuclear radiation in non-biological materials, we may mention the structural damages in materials such as polymers, which under the effect of gamma radiation change their structure. This however may be used in our advantage, such as in the case of thermo-insulating materials obtained through the process of radiation incident on matter.
You have reached the end of Physics lesson 20.4.11 Penetration of Nuclear Radiation in Matter and the Harm Caused by Radiation. There are 11 lessons in this physics tutorial covering Nuclear Reactions, you can access all the lessons from this tutorial below.
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