Radiation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For other uses, see Radiation (disambiguation).
Radiation as used in physics, is energy in the form of waves or particles. There are two distinct types of radiation, ionizing radiation and non-ionizing radiation. Various sub-types of radiation may also be distinguished, dependent upon the type of the emission source, the wavelength, the energy, the carrier, etc. The most common use of the word "radiation" refers to ionizing radiation. Ionizing radiation has enough energy to ionize atoms or molecules while non-ionizing radiation does not. Radioactive material is a physical material that emits radiation, or energy.
[edit] Different Ionizing Radiations by type
- Alpha radiation, composed of the nuclei of helium-4 atoms.
- Beta radiation, consisting of energetic electrons or positrons.
- Gamma radiation, which is high-energy electromagnetic waves.
- Neutron radiation.
- X-rays, a stream of photons at a particular energy.
[edit] Different Non-Ionizing Radiations by type
- Ultraviolet radiation, also known as UV.
- Infrared radiation, also known as heat.
- Microwave radiation, familiar to those who use microwave ovens.
- Radio or Television waves.
- Visible Light.
- Gravitational radiation, a predicted consequence of general relativity.
[edit] See also
- Background radiation, which actually refers to the background ionizing radiation
- Cosmic microwave background radiation, 3K blackbody radiation that fills the Universe
- Radiant energy, radiation emitted by a source into the surrounding environment.
- Radiation damage - adverse effects on materials and devices
- Radiation hormesis - dosage threshold damage theory (unproven)
- Radiation poisoning - adverse effects on life forms
- Radiation hardening - making devices resistant to failure in high radiation environments
- Radioactive contamination
- Radioactive decay
