How you protect yourself from electromagnetic radiation?

Answer 1

Electromagnetic radiation ranges from radio waves, with extremely long waves, to visible light, with rather small waves, to gamma, with extremely small waves.

As the wave length gets smaller, the energy level gets higher, and therefore more harmful, EM radiation is everywhere and the longer waves are totally safe.

Radiowaves are also all over the place, and if you want to prove this, just turn your radio on and it will interpret the radio waves that are there anyway into sound. These waves are from a few metres to some kilometres long.

Microwaves however cause things to heat up (by resonating the water, i think). so its a good idea not to get massive doses of these, however the only sources of microwaves that can actually expose you to them are mobile phones, which give off tiny doses, nothing to worry about.

Infrared is also safe, it is the range of light used for most TV remotes to send signals.

Obviously, when ever you can see something, you are exposed to visible light, which is a band of electromagnetic radiation, and this is not a problem.

Now, the next band smaller is UV, which is responsible for tanning, sunburn and, in worse cases, skin cancer. UV is safe in small doses, but if your going to expose yourself for long periods of time (sun bathing, tanning beds etc) you should wear sun tan lotion.

X-rays. These are also safe in small doses, and are used in medical imaging, because they travel through skin and soft tissue very well, but get stopped by bone. The doctor (or dentist) only leaves the room when they give you an X - ray because this is something they have to do very often and they would get dangerously high doses if they stood in the room every time.

X ray imaging gives you the lowest dose it can. Higher doses of X-rays can cause cancer and damage cells. This is why you should avoid X-rays if you are pregnant.

Gamma rays are dangerous, they are sometimes used in medical imagine (look up "gamma camera") but only when necessary. Gamma radiation is also used for sterilisation of equipment. Gamma radiation can damage or kill cells. High doses of it on healthy can cause cancer. However, because it can kill cells, it is used to kill cancer cells in a treatment called radiotherapy.

Gamma radiation is the radiation associated with nuclear power, and is probably what most people mean when they talk about "radiation".

The waves of Gamma radiation are on the same scale as the nucleus of an atom.

Answer 2

No. Electromagnetic radiation is simply an oscillation of electrons resulting in a minor emittance of energy. This process is almost entirely harmless to living tissue and is very useful for transmitting signals like the ones received on your radio. The "radiation" that most people know and fear is gamma radiation. In this case, photons are accelerated at high speeds and can cause significant damage to living tissue.

Answer 3

That depends on the wavelength (energy) of the radiation.

It's pretty easy to protect yourself from the radiation that has the lowest energy.
If you don't want to be hit with radio waves, or heat waves, or light waves, or
ultraviolet waves, you can simply get inside something that they can't penetrate ...
a house, a car, a tent, a hat, a shirt, a dress, some sunscreen, etc.

But then you have the electromagnetic radiation that has higher energy. Not only
can it harm you if you absorb too much of it, but it also has enough energy to
penetrate materials, so you need thicker and better shielding to protect yourself
from it.

Examples are X-rays and gamma rays. You need to be careful not to spend too much
time in places where there are X-rays or gamma rays flying around, and cover yourself
with lead if you can't avoid them. Even lead is not an effective protection against
gamma rays ... they can sail right through it, and they're very dangerous to human cells.
What you must do to protect yourself from gamma rays, and from the X-rays with the
highest energy, is to stay inside Earth's atmosphere at all times.

Answer 4

By not been on the computer to long