What is neutron radiation?

Answer 1

'Nuclear' means of or to do with the nucleus of something. It usually, but not always, refers to the nucleus of an atom. From this, we get nuclear energy (energy stored in the nucleus when it forms) nuclear bombs/power stations (which utilise this energy for certain purposes) and nuclear charge (the electrical charge in/on a nucleus), among many other terms.

Answer 2

When we speak of nuclear radiation, what we are nearly always referring to is ionizing radiation from nuclear decay. Ionizing radiation is so called because it is capable of ionizing the things it hits. There are other forms of radiation from nuclear decay that are not ionizing, such as neutrinos and low energy photons, and other sources for ionizing radiation, such as cosmic rays.

Ionizing radiation comes in two basic forms, particles and waves.

Alpha and beta emissions are particulate as are neutrons. An alpha particle consists of two protons and two neutrons, which makes it a helium ion, though it is traveling at a rather high speed. A beta particle is an electron, also traveling at a high speed. Neutrons are ionizing by causing various effects in the things they hit, despite the fact that they are not charged. Less important are high speed protons, which few radioactive processes produce. Neutrinos are also particles from radioactive decay, but they are not considered ionizing.

Gamma rays are high energy photons, and though they are in wave form, they are ionizing, as are the less energetic UV photons. Other, even less energetic, photons may also be emitted, though these are not ionizing.

Ionizing radiation is all around us all the time. We experience it from the decay of radioactive substances in the environment, from natural potassium and radon gas to traces of materials left over from nuclear bomb tests. We get it from X-rays and various medicines.

About 97% of the radiation we get comes from natural sources. Radon is in all the air. For most of us, one important and inescapable source of the radiation we get is potassium. Naturally occurring potassium is 0.012% made up of potassium-40, which is radioactive, with a half life of 1,248,000,000 years (not very radioactive). And yet, we have a biological requirement for about 4.7 grams of potassium every day; without potassium we would die, so to live, we have to live with the small part of it that is radioactive.

Other natural sources of ionizing radiation are cosmic rays, the sun, and just about everything in our environment. Every element has some radioactive isotopes, and about two thirds of elements have naturally occurring radioactive elements.

About 3% of the radiation we are exposed to is man made. The problem with it is largely that it is very highly concentrated when it is made, it lasts a long time, it can be concentrated by organisms, including food organisms, and it can be deadly for a long time in small concentrations. Even though we get about 3% of our radiation from human sources, there are parts of the world where most of the ambient radioactivity is from a single disaster that took place over twenty years ago. And in some of the area, it is not safe to grow food or live because of the radioactivity.

All radiation is not the same, in terms of what it can go through. Alpha particles are stopped so easily they can be shielded by a piece of paper or a few inches of air. They are pretty powerful, though, and so we do not what to eat anything that gives them off. Fortunately, they do not come from the elements that we get in our food.

Beta particles are stopped by a millimeter or so of aluminum, among other things.

Gamma rays do not stop easily, and are a problem where they exist in abundance. Shielding for them is best done by very heavy metals. Lead is used. Oddly, depleted uranium, which has a very long half life, is a better shield for radiation than lead because its atoms have more mass, and this is true despite the fact that uranium is slightly radioactive.

The damage to our bodies done by nuclear radiation happens because the radiation can ionize atoms, breaking their molecular bonds with the atoms around them. If this happens in a given cell, it almost always happens in a way that is easy for the cell to repair. Most problematical is when it happens in DNA, changing it. When this happens, the cell usually repairs the DNA. Second most commonly, the cell dies. Sometimes the cell stays alive and can reproduce, passing the changed DNA to other cells. When this happens, there is usually no problem, but sometimes the result is a bunch of cells that do not work properly, and this can lead to a tumor or cancer.

Clearly, the medical problem of nuclear radiation is not a question of what happens if we get hit by radiation, because we get hit by radiation all the time. The question is what happens when the radioactivity is at a high enough level to cause trouble. This is a matter of statistics and chance. We can be killed by a gamma ray in an environment that is as radiation free as we could make it, but the chance is very, very low. With increasing amounts of radiation, our chances of getting into trouble increase. Since there is no benefit from radiation, no amount of increase in exposure to radiation is good. Nevertheless, there are things we cannot do without exposure to radiation, such as getting dental X-rays or consuming the amount of potassium we need every day. So the question is one of balance of good and bad.

Answer 3

In general, neutron radiation is radiation by neutrons. It is a form of particulate radiation (like alpha radiation, beta radiation or proton radiation), and it is sharply different from something like gamma radiation in that gamma rays are electromagnetic energy. We generally use the term "radiation" in the nuclear area to refer to particles or energy released as a result of changes in atomic nuclei, and it is generally dangerous to be exposed to any of these types of radiation. Neutron radiation is particularly dangerous as it is the most penetrating of the types of particulate radiation.

Answer 4

Radioactive material is material that is unstable at the atomic level. It tends to become more stable by decaying, which involves a change of some sort, usually the emission of particles and energy, sometimes actually splitting (fissioning) into two different elements.

Radiation is simply the particles and energy that are emitted when the elements change state or decay. There are four fundamental types of radiation...

The alpha particle is the nucleus of helium, two protons and two neutrons.

The beta particle is an electron (or in some cases a positron).

The gamma ray is an energy wave, an emission of photons, much like light, but of a higher energy.

And last but not least, there is the neutron, which is the result of the fission process.

There is actually more to it, because there are sub-sub-atomic particles involved, but that should suffice for this particular question.

Answer 5

The emission of energy as electromagnetic waves or as moving subatomic particles. Light, radio, and microwaves are types of radiation that are called non-ionizing. The kind of radiation discussed in this document is called ionizing radiation because it can produce charged particles (ions) in matter.

Answer 6

radiation is heat that travels through space or median

Answer 7

Radioactivity is all nuclear, because it arises from nuclear changes.

Answer 8

Atoms break apart, releasing energy in the process.