The Effects of Radiation Essay

Symptoms of radiation sickness include; vomiting, headaches, nausea, hair loss, hemorrhaging and diarrhoea. Most cases of radiation sickness lead to several weeks to months of severe symptoms before leading to death.

3rd week through 8th week: symptoms of damages by radioactive rays, for example., loss of hair, anaemia, loss of white cells, bleeding, diarrhoea. Approximately 10% of cases in this group were fatal.

Electromagnetic Radiation – A form of energy composed of waves of electric and magnetic changes (from electrically charged particles). It deals with

Radiation (also known as nuclear radiation) refers to particles or waves emitted by radioactive substance. Nuclear radiation comes from the waves from a nucleus. Ionising radiation can

Radiation therapy can be used anywhere in the body to treat any kind of cancer. Depending on what type of radiation therapy, it can have some side effects. The most common ones include fatigue, hair loss near the treated area, and skin darkening in the area exposed to a beam of radiation. ("Radiation Therapy for Cancer,” 1) There are also safety concerns that patients have when they are treated with radiation therapy. Many people that receive radiation therapy treatment, worry about exposing family and love ones to radiation, as well as the side effects. Radiation effects on the normal tissues are divided into acute and chronic effects (Schreiber). Acute effects occur during the course of therapy and during the post therapy period (approximately 2-3 weeks after the completion of a course of irradiation) (Schreiber).

Radiation was discovered in 1895 by Wilhelm Roentgen during a scientific experiment. Roentgen, classified radioactivity into three concepts: negative, positive, and electrically neutral. Radiation- is the emission or transmission of energy in the form of waves or particles through space or through a material medium. Technology is created with radiation and humans are exposed to the aspect daily with tons or material; especially in the doctor’s office and everywhere else.

In 1939, the United States started funding the Manhattan Project. A project which goal was to make a bomb using the power of nuclear energy. There were a few problems with making the bomb. One the resources needed to make the bomb were expensive and hard to find. And, by 1945, the budget for the Manhattan Project be around Two billion dollars.

Radiation sickness can have huge impacts on an individual’s immune system and the production of blood cell. The gastrointestinal system and bone marrow, where each of these essential systems of the human body are housed, are highly susceptible to radiation sickness. “...the gastrointestinal system and bone marrow are highly sensitive to radiation”(Mayo Clinic Staff 1). Radiation sickness has two main phases. The first phase mostly includes puking and feeling sick, but diarrhea, headache and fever isn’t uncommon. “The initial signs and symptoms of treatable

Medalia (2011) concludes that ionizing radiation, in other words radiation separate from harmless radio waves and light, has the ability to knock electrons out of atoms, causing a condition that produces an electrically charged atom that can damage human cells. Only a very small amount is needed to produce biological change. Symptoms include cancer, genetic mutations, sickness, vomiting, diarrhea, hemorrhaging, and at high doses, death within hours (Medalia 2011).

Acute effects: Results from high doses of radiation (whole body) normally more than 100 rad. It may cause transient illness to death.

The Beta travels faster and penetrates further than any other. Gamma rays are the most dangerous from all since the can travel further and damage tissues and organs. Radiation can be measured in doses such as the Roentgens and the Rem. Radiation in our planet can come from cosmic radiation, terrestrial sources, the body, or man-made sources such as diagnostic radiology and therapeutic radiology. When a person is exposed to radiation he/she can suffer from acute effects also known as effects that occur quickly or chronic effects which are known as long term effects. People can handle chronic exposure to radiation better than a large amount of radiation within a short period of time. People who have a been exposed to large amounts of radiation within a short period of time can become ill quickly such as in acute radiation sickness or could potentially die from such exposure. Exposure to radiation can cause illnesses such as cancer, cataracts, and could ultimately cause a reduction in life. America uses emergency managers to handle aspect of all emergencies posed to communities across the country. Emergency managers use The Radiological Protection System trains and aids communities when radiological emergencies occur. In the United

The effects of EMR upon biological systems depend both upon the radiation's power and its frequency. For EMR of visible frequencies or lower the damage done to cells and other materials is determined mainly by power and caused primarily by heating effects from the combined energy transfer of many photons. By contrast, for ultraviolet and higher frequencies chemical materials and living cells can be further damaged beyond that done by simple heating, since individual photons of such high frequency have enough energy to cause direct molecular

Ionizing radiation is a form of radiation that can alter the structure of DNA molecules in living cells. It is a kind of energy produced by atoms that travels in form of electromagnetic waves. Sources of this form of energy are x-ray

Radiation therapy is the use special machines to convey high-energy rays that damage cancer cells and stop them from growing. The radiation can be directed to a specific area of the body or the whole body. Some side effects that come from the therapy are fatigue, hair loss, nausea, or red, dry, itchy skin.

One potential stochastic effect that can occur with ionizing radiation is thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer is the 5th most common cancer in women. The diagnosis of thyroid malignancy has increased worldwide in the last few decades and is the most rapidly increasing cancer in the United States with a 5.1% increase from 2003 to 2012. Common symptoms of thyroid cancer are a lump on the neck, a tight feeling in the neck, difficulty breathing or swallowing, hoarseness, and swollen lymph nodes. However in many cases, no symptoms arise and the cancer is diagnosed because an abnormality is seen on an imaging test being performed for another reason2.