What are the effects of radiation?
The effects of radiation can be positive and negative. For example, radiation is part of today's technology. Smoke detectors, microwave furnaces and computers emit all radiation. Radiation is also used to treat cancer. On the other hand, excessive exposure to radiation can lead to hair loss, fatigue, loss of white blood cells, sterility, cancer and death. For the first time, surgeons could use X -rays to help surgery with less damage to the human body.
Another form of radiation was discovered in 1896 by French scientist Henri Becquerel (1852-1908). Becquerel discovered natural radiation in examining fluorescence. One of the minerals used by Becquerel was a compound of uranium. Unlike the Roentgen's discovery, the discovery was largely unnoticed. Curies and Becquerel received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1903 for their works. Marie Curie eventually died of leukemia, one of the possible biological effects of the radiation exhibition.
During these early years of radiation science, people did not know about the negative effects of radiation. Those who worked with radiation did not take protective measures because they did not realize that protective measures were necessary. By 1900, scientists and medical staff understood that X -rays could produce skin burns.
Within a few days of the United States that abandoned the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan in 1945 experts and civilians expressed contradictory views on the effects of radiation. Howard Jacobson, a former scientist who worked on the Manhattan project, has developed a nuclear bomb that Hiroshima could be uninhabitable for 70 years. On the other hand, the US Army dominated and censored news that was printed in America to reduce the knowledge of the effects of the radiation exposition on the Japanese population.
Today scientists and lay people know the effects that the atomic bomb on the inhabitants of Hiroshima and laterI Nagasaki, Japan. Thousands of people immediately died while others suffered from persistent death. Some survivors suffered genetic damage due to radiation exposure that affected the lives of their children and future generations.
radiation can also save lives. External radiation therapy by beam used on tumors in the prostate gland can prevent the spread of prostate cancer. Cancer can be treated with radiation to reduce tumors if surgery is not a viable option. Computer tomography (MRI) (CT Scans) and ultrasonography are diagnostic tools that use radiation. One of the most dramatic examples of radice effect can be seen with the sun. There would be no life on Earth without the sun. The sun also radiates radiation, which can eventually lead to skin cancer and possibly to death.