Alpha, beta, GammaRay, positron, or neutron?
Also, which does the most biological damage once ingested?
Also, which does the most biological damage once ingested?
-
A gamma ray photon will have a certain energy depending on the wavelength - I mean, there's some energy below which it is an X-ray not a gamma.
The particles have energy depending on what speed they are going. It may be zero, in which case they are harmless.
However, a positron will annihilate with an electron and release two 511 keV gamma rays, if it hits one, which it will unless you somehow have it contained in a magnetic field in a vacuum.
If you ingest radioactive material, an alpha-emitter is the most dangerous since the alpha particles go a few millimetres into your lung or gut and damage DNA.
Neutrons are also dangerous, but I think they are most common from a nuclear reactor or particle beam, not in something you can eat, unless maybe you eat a big chunk of plutonium.
The particles have energy depending on what speed they are going. It may be zero, in which case they are harmless.
However, a positron will annihilate with an electron and release two 511 keV gamma rays, if it hits one, which it will unless you somehow have it contained in a magnetic field in a vacuum.
If you ingest radioactive material, an alpha-emitter is the most dangerous since the alpha particles go a few millimetres into your lung or gut and damage DNA.
Neutrons are also dangerous, but I think they are most common from a nuclear reactor or particle beam, not in something you can eat, unless maybe you eat a big chunk of plutonium.