University of the Philippines Manila
Biology 124 – Radiation Biology
Prof. Marla Endriga
Radiation and Radioactivity
Transcribed by: Fatima Jen Pagsolingan
What is radiation?
 Solely produced by nuclear industry and nuclear
weapons
 Any energy that is either transmitter or absorbed
 Technically, energy in the form of particles or rays which
travel through space
 2 general types: non-ionizing and ionizing
Non-ionizing Radiation
• Exists in various forms
o Radio waves
o Microwaves
o Infrared rays
o Visible light
o Ultraviolet rays
• Some are detected by our senses while other forms are
recognized through special instruments that convert his
type of radiation into signals that our senses can
recognize
• Non-ionizing radiation wavelengths are longer than
ionizing radiation wavelengths.
Ionizing Radiation
• Undetected by any of our physical senses
• Can be detected with simple radiation detection
instruments
• Occurs in two forms (rays and particles) and at the high
frequency end of the electromagnetic spectrum
• Carries sufficient energy to knock electrons off other
atoms – leaving them electrically charged or ionized
• In living tissues, the ions caused by such radiation can
affect normal biological processes
• Because ions have an electrical charge, they are easy to
detect and makes it possible to measure the amount of
radiation present in extremely low levels
Common types of ionizing radiation
• Emitted by the nuclei of radioactive atoms
• Alpha particles
• Beta particles
• Neutrons
• Gamma rays
• X-radiation
o Not strictly nuclear in origin but is included
here as a form of ionizing radiation very similar
to gamma radiation
o From x-ray machines
• *Most common
Alpha (α) particles
• Have positive electric charge
• Emitted from naturally-occurring elements such as
uranium and radium, as well as from some man-made
radioactive elements
• An alpha particle is made up of two protons and two
neutron bound together, therefore it is massive
 An alpha particle is identical with the nucleus of a helium
atom
• Travel slowly, collide readily with matter and lose their
energy quickly
o Linear Energy Transfer
o Radiation hits absorbing material. The energy
of radiation transfers to the absorbing material.
• Have little penetrating power and can be stopped by a
sheet of paper or by the first layer of the skin and thus,
present no external hazard
• If they are taken in the body, for example by breathing or
swallowing, alpha particles can affect the body’s cells
• Because they give up their energy over a relatively short
distance, alpha particles can inflict more biological
damage inside the body than other kinds of radiation
• Polonium 210 – an alpha emitter
o A Russian spy (Alexander Litvinenko) ate food
contaminated with Polonium 210. A few weeks
after ingestion, he died of radiation sickness.
o Its transport and access is highly regulated
across borders.
Beta (β) particles
• Negatively charged particles identical to electrons
• Much smaller, lighter and more penetrating than alpha
particles
o They can pass through 1 to 2 centimeters of
water and human flesh
o Beta particles are considered a slight external
hazard depending on their energy (low,
medium and high energy)
• Can be stopped by a sheet of aluminum a few millimeters
thick, by window glass, wood or a sheet of metal
• Can also be hazardous if taken into the body
o Hazard depends on dose and energy
• E.g. natural radioactivity from potassium-40 in soil,
rocks and minerals; tritium, a hydrogen isotope
Gamma (γ) rays
• Electromagnetic waves of very short wavelength
traveling with the speed of light
o These are waves, alpha and beta are particlces.
o Speed of light – 3 x 108 m/s or 186,000 mi/s
• Have greater energy than medical x-rays
• Emitted from the nuclei of some radioactive atoms (like
uranium-238) when they decay
• Very penetrating and can pass right through the human
body
• Can be used in hospitals to diagnose and treat cancer or
in industrial operations to detect defects in welds or
pipes
• Dense materials such as lead and concrete are excellent
barriers against gamma rays
X-rays
• Electromagnetic waves with lesser energy and
penetrating power than gamma rays
 • Produced by x-ray machines when high-speed electrons
strike a metal target
• Are used in many diagnostic procedures in medicine
• Can penetrate the human body, but are absorbed by
denser tissues such as bone
o These show up as the white parts on an x-ray
image
• X-rays that are not absorbed pass right through and
cause the photographic film to darken when developed
Neutrons
• Particles with no charge
• Can penetrate many materials very easily
• Formed during the splitting (fission) of certain atoms
inside a nuclear reactor
• Are not actually ionizing radiation, but if they hit other
nuclei, they may cause emission of gamma rays or
charged particles, indirectly giving rise to ionizing
radiation
• More penetrating than gamma rays
• Can be stopped only by thick concrete, water or paraffin
barrier, or hydrogenous materials
Sources of Ionizing Radiation
• Natural
o Background radiation
o Exist anywhere and everywhere, varying
intensity from place to place
 They do not increase unless there is a
fallout.
o Represents about 80% of all the radiation to
which we are exposed
• Man-made/Artificial
o Doses received are much smaller than those
from natural radiation but they still vary
considerably
o Only about 20% of man’s radiation exposure
comes from artificial or man-made radioactive
sources
o Are in principle fully controllable, unlike
natural sources
o E.g. x-ray
Naturally-Occurring Sources of Radiation
• Cosmic Radiation
o We are constantly bombarded by high sub-
atomic particles and gamma rays coming from
the sun and outer space
o As most of it is blocked by the earth’s
atmosphere, only a fraction of it reaches the
ground
o The dose from cosmic radiation varies from
one location to another depending on altitude,
latitude and very occasionally on the solar cycle
(sunspot)
• Earth’s Crust (Terrestrial Radiation)
o This radiation source comes from naturally-
occurring radioactive elements that have
existed since the earth was formed and are still
around because they remain radioactive (they
are still decaying) for many millions of years.
o Main contributors: uranium-238, uranium-
235, thorium-232, potassium-40 and their
decay products which give off alpha and beta
particles (and sometimes gamma)
continuously
o Building materials which use soil and rocks as
components also add measurable radiation
amounts
• Radon
o This is a radioactive gas that naturally comes
from the radioactive decay of radium
o Can seep out from where they are produced
into rocks or building materials of our homes,
and can then be inhaled along with its decay
products
o Radon and its decay products are the biggest
source of natural radiation in this world
o It is significant enough that PNRI (Philippine
Nuclear Research Institute) continuously
monitors radon levels throughout the country.
• Internal radiation (food and drink)
o Since radioactive materials occur everywhere
in nature, it is inevitable that they get into
drinking water and food.
o Potassium-40 in particular is a major source of
internal radiation.
o The element potassium is essential to man,
plants and animals. Banana!
o From plants, potassium finds its way through
food chains into man where it is built up in
body tissue, particularly muscle (C-14)
Artificial or Man – Made Sources of Ionizing Radiation
• Medical Applications
o The biggest (~90%) man-made contribution to
radiation exposure of individual comes from
the medical and dental use of x-rays and from
radioactive materials used to diagnose or treat
diseases.
o For some diseases, diagnostic information can
be given by the gamma rays emitted by
radioactive materials or those that are
surrounded into the patient by injection, or by
swallowing or by inhalation. (technique:
Nuclear Medicine)
o Doses are carefully controlled.
o Other medical applications include:
o Use of radioactive cobalt for the treatment of
cancers
o Injection of radioactive iodine (Iodine 131)
which concentrates in the thyroid for
treatment of goiters and thyroid disorders.
• Radiation in Consumer Products
o Minute radiation doses are received from
artificial radioactivity in consumer products.
o Smoke detectors used radioactive Americium-
241 to detect smoke particles in the air.
o In some luminous signs and gas mantles,
fluorescence and brightness are due to the
radioactive material.
o The amount of radioactive material in these
products are so small it does not have any effect
on the consumer
• Fallout
o Radioactive fallout from nuclear weapons tests
carried out in the atmosphere is the most
widespread environmental contaminant.
 Doses to the public have declined
from relatively high values in the
early 1960s to very low levels in
recent years.
 o Where tests were carried out at ground level or
even underground, localized contamination
often remains near the weapons site.
• Nuclear and Other Industries
o Other artificial sources include small quantities
of radioactive materials which can be released
to the environment in the course of normal
operation of nuclear installations.
o Radioisotopes such as cobalt-60 are also used
in industry to sterilize products such as
cosmetics and medical supplies.
o Other isotopes are used in nuclear gauges to
determine the thickness of materials such as
paper products, plastic films and metal sheets.
o Radiation is also utilized to measure liquid
levels in large storage tanks and to determine
the quality of welds in structures such as
bridges and buildings.
Global Radiation Dose
 Exposure of people from natural sources is about 80%
and about 20% from artificial sources (Data from the US)
 Unit: Sievert (Sv)
How does radiation interact with matter?
• All ionizing radiation emit energy either in the form of
rays (x-rays, gamma rays) or particles (alpha, beta,
neutrons)
• It transfers energy to the electrons of the absorbing
material
o The energy transfer may occur by several
mechanisms
o The two most commonly encountered are:
ionization and excitation
General Mechanisms of Absorption/Transfer of Energy in
Matter
• Ionization
o The energy transferred to the electrons causes
them to be pulled away or removed from an
atom entirely.
 May natatanggal na electron sa
absorbing material and you may ions
produced.
o The result is the formation of the so-called ion
pair.
 The ion pair consists of a negatively-
charged free electron and a
positively-charged atom
• Excitation
o Occurs when an inner electron of an atom
receives enough energy to allow it to move into
an excited stage at a higher energy level
o Transfer is only temporary
o The electron soon returns to its original level
by re-emitting the energy gained as
electromagnetic radiation
Interaction of the Different Types of Ionizing Radiation with
Matter
• Alpha particles
• Beta Particles
• Gamma & X-rays
o Photoelectric effect
o Compton effect
o Pair production
Interaction of Alpha Particles with Matter
• Massive
o Each particle consists of two protons and two
neutrons and travel relatively slowly through
matter
• Have high chance of interaction with atoms along its path
and will give up some of its energy during each
interaction
o Lose energy very rapidly and only travel very
short distances in dense materials
• Mainly lose their energy in matter through the process of
ionization and excitation
Interaction of Beta Particles with Matter
• Identical to the orbital electrons of atoms in the
absorbing material
• Much smaller compared to alpha particles and travel
much faster
• Undergo fewer interactions per unit length of track and
give up energy more slowly than alpha particles
• Travel farther than alpha particles in dense materials
• Also lose energy by excitation and ionization
• Some beta particles (particularly those with higher
energy) that travel close to the nucleus of an atom
experience an attractive force causing them to deflect
and lose energy with the production of x-rays
o Bremsstrahlung – braking radiation;
secondary radiation
 • Electron with positive charge: positron (as seen in beta o The angle at which a photon is scattered
plus decay) depends on its original energy and the energy
transferred to the electron
Two Types of Beta Decay: o Predominates in materials with higher atomic
number
• Pair production
o When a photon with energy of at least 1.02 MeV
passes near the nucleus, the energetic photon
may be converted into a positron and an
electron
o The positron and electron then lose kinetic
energy through interaction with other atoms in
the material
 A positron cannot exist without
kinetic energy so when it has lost all
its energy, it will combine with an
electron of the absorbing material in
a process called annihilation
o Annihilation – two particles destroy each
other and are converted into two annihilation
photons, each of 0.51 MeV
 These photons are emitted in
opposite directions from each other
o The most likely interaction for high energy
photons in materials with high atomic number

What units are used to measure radiation?

• Becquerel (Bq)
o In measuring radioactivity, Bq is used to
describe the number of nuclei which decay or
disintegrate in a second
o One Becquerel = 1 disintegration per second
 The former unit used for this quantity
is the curie (Ci)
 1 Ci = 37 billion Bq

Interaction of X-Rays and Gamma Rays with Matter

• Travel long distances between interactions
• Their energy cannot be completely absorbed, only
reduced in intensity

Three principal ways in which x-rays and gamma rays interact

with matter (depending on energy of radiation)
• Photoelectric effect
o A photon (gamma ray or x-ray) of relatively low
energy (< 1 MeV) transfers all its energy to a
tightly bound electron in an inner electron shell
or orbit
o Electron is then ejected from the atom with
considerable velocity – produces light
o Most likely to occur in materials with a high
atomic number, so a material such as lead (Z-
82) makes a useful shielding material for low
energy photons
• Compton Scattering
o Occurs when a medium energy photon (0.2 to 5
MeV) transfers part of its energy to a free or
loosely bound electron in the outermost shell of
an atom
o The electron from one of the outer shells is
released from the atom and the photon is
scattered with reduced energy