What is Radiation

To begin with, let us first answer the question on what is radiation? Basically, radiation is an energy source that has the capability of penetrating anything and can be soaked up by that object. Plenty of people imagine that radiation is some kind of rock that glows green and cause profound effects to the human body and the environment. The statement is not entirely false but the concept of radiation has more to be told than that found in a comic book.

In order for us to understand better on what is radiation, let us learn about the two types of radiation. The first one is known as ionizing radiation and is the most normally known or thought of radiation. Ionizing radiation is a kind of radiation that has minute particles with their own energy supply that has the ability to take away an electron from a molecule or atom. The by-product of this removal is called free radicals and these are known to cause some biological effects on the human body and also the environment.

non ionizing radiation on the other hand is the exact opposite of ionizing radiation. It does not have enough energy to take away an electron instead it has sufficient energy to excite the electrons. Again, like ionizing radiation, it too has side effects to the human body and the environment. Some examples of non-ionizing radiation are visible light, infrared, microwaves and radio waves.



Despite the possible health risks in the use of radiation, it is still an important source of energy because it still has many crucial applications. In the field of medicine, it has been used for diagnosing and treating diseases and also for medical research for new treatments and other applications. The x-ray and CT-scan use radiation in order to obtain images of the human body without making a single incision. For cancer patients, radiation therapy is being used to help fight the disease.

Radiation has also found its way in communication. All kinds of modern telecommunication systems use electromagnetic radiation to transmit data. It is the difference of intensity of the radiation that helps deliver that data into an understandable form like pictures and sounds. Another application is in the field of science. Science uses it in many ways and one of them is carbon dating in which one can learn about the age of a certain object no matter how old it may be.

But the best known use of radiation is nuclear power. This is where radiation is used to provide insurmountable energy and also destructive power. Plenty of countries take advantage of nuclear power to give nearly endless amounts of energy to power their cities and also military weapons like submarines. And it has also been used in the nuclear bomb which has already seen in action in the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Indeed, radiation is both helpful and harmful for humankind. It is just a matter of how to use it properly.