The Types Of Radiation

With the development and application of science and technology and the widely use of a variety of electronic devices, people has not been unfamiliar to the term of "radiation" any longer. According to its energy level and the ability to ionize substance, radiation can be divided into ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation is radiation that carries enough energy to free electrons from atoms or molecules, thereby ionizing them. It is made up of energetic subatomic particles, ions or atoms moving at high speeds and electromagnetic waves on the high-energy end of the electromagnetic spectrum. While non-ionizing radiation refers to any type of radiation that does not carry enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules, including low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, ultraviolet light, red inside, microwaves and radio waves. Alpha, beta, γ, X radiation, neutron radiation and high-frequency electromagnetic radiation are ionizing radiation.

Alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium nucleus. It is a highly ionizing form of particle radiation which can be emitted by various radioactive substances (such as radium); the ionization value of β particle — a high-energy, high-speed electrons or positrons emitted by certain types of radioactive nuclei — is much smaller than α particle, but penetration ability is more stronger; γ-ray that has a wavelength less than 0.01 Å can released by the energy level transition, owing to its strong penetration, it has been used for industrial flaw detection or pipeline automatic control, as well as for medical tumor treatment; the wavelength of X ray is between ultraviolet and γ-ray, X-ray has great penetrating, ionization and fluorescence effects, which can be used for diagnostic medical imaging, medical fluoroscopy and non destructive testing; while neutron radiation can be produced by nuclear fission and nuclear fusion m.

Radiation can accelerate the decline and fall of cells, inhibit the generation of new cells, and cause hematopoietic organ failure and damage to the digestive system, central nervous system damage, etc. It can also cause radiation sickness, cancer, leukemia, cataracts and other diseases. Due to the dangers of radiation, radiation protection also attracts people’s attention, tungsten alloy shielding is one of the means. Placing tungsten alloy shielding with high radiation shielding effectiveness between the radiation and the human body or around radiation source, can effectively weaken the intensity of the radiation to avoid human being exposure to radiation damage, so that the body can be away from all kinds of radiation sickness. In addition, tungsten alloy is nontoxic and environmentally-friendly metal alloy, does not release toxic substances, so do not worry about the question of the environment pollution or human health.

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