Electromagnetic radiation

Katarina Berteti

What is electromagnetic radiation?

Energy propagated through free space or through a material medium in the form of electromagnetic waves It includes:
Radio waves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X rays, and gamma rays

What is electromagnetic radiation?

It apears in:
Particle model Wave model

A vacuum is the only perfectly transparent medium; all others absorb some frequencies of electromagnetic radiation

Theory
Electromagnetic waves can be imagined as a self-propagating transverse oscillating wave of electric and magnetic fields. The electric field is in a vertical (red) plane and the magnetic field in a horizontal plane (blue).

Theory
The frequency of a wave is its rate of oscillation and is measured in hertz
one hertz is equal to one oscillation per second.

A wave consists of successive troughs and crests, and the distance between two adjacent crests or troughs is called the wavelength.

Theory
Depending on the circumstances, electromagnetic radiation may behave as a wave or as particles
As a wave, it is characterized by a velocity (the speed of light), wavelength, and frequency When considered as particles, known as photons, each has an energy related to the frequency of the wave

Electromagnetic spectrum
The electromagnetic spectrum is the range of all possible frequencies of electromagnetic radiation EM radiation is classified by wavelength into radio wave, microwave, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays

Electromagnetic spectrum

Types of radiation
Alpha radiation is a heavy, very short-range particle and is actually an ejected helium nucleus. Some characteristics of alpha radiation are:
Most alpha radiation is not able to penetrate human skin. Alpha radiation travels only a short distance (a few inches) in air, but is not an external hazard A thin-window Geiger-Mueller (GM) probe can detect the presence of alpha radiation Alpha radiation is not able to penetrate clothing

Types of radiation
Beta radiation is a light, short-range particle and is actually an ejected electron. Some characteristics of beta radiation are:
Beta radiation may travel several feet in air and is moderately penetrating. Beta-emitting contaminants may be harmful if deposited internally. Clothing provides some protection against beta radiation. It can penetrate human skin to the "germinal layer" . If high levels of beta-emitting contaminants are allowed to remain on the skin for a prolonged period of time, they may cause skin injury.

Types of radiation
Gamma radiation and x rays are highly penetrating electromagnetic radiation. The distinction between x and gamma rays is based on sources
gamma rays are the photons generated from nuclear decay or other nuclear and subnuclear/particle process X-rays are generated by electronic transitions involving highly energetic inner atomic electrons

Types of radiation
Some characteristics of these radiations are:
Gamma radiation or x rays are able to travel many feet in air and many inches in human tissue. They readily penetrate most materials and are sometimes called "penetrating" radiation. Dense materials are needed for shielding from gamma radiation. Clothing provides little shielding from penetrating radiation contamination of the skin by gamma-emitting radioactive materials. Gamma radiation is easily detected by survey meters with a sodium iodide detector probe.

 This figure shows the penetration of different types of radiation

Ionising radiation
Ionizing radiation consists of subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves energetic enough to detach electrons from atoms or molecules, thus ionizing them.
Ionizing radiation: high frequency ultraviolet, xrays, and gamma rays Non-ionizing: visible light, microwaves, and radio waves

Sources of ionising radiation

Natural background radiation
Natural background radiation comes from four primary sources: cosmic radiation, solar radiation, external terrestrial sources, and radon

Sources of ionising radiation

Cosmic radiation
The dose from cosmic radiation is largely from neutrons, and electrons, with a dose rate that varies in different parts of the world and based largely on the geomagnetic field, altitude, and solar cycle Airline flight crew workers receive more dose on average than any other worker, including those in nuclear power plants

Sources of ionising radiation

External terrestrial sources
The major radionuclides of concern for terrestrial radiation are isotopes of potassium, uranium, and thorium. Each of these sources has been decreasing in activity since the birth of the Earth.

Biological effects
many of the biological effects of nonionizing electromagnetic (EM) radiation remain uncertain Certain acute high-intensity exposure effects, such as hyperpyrexic convulsions and cataracts, appear to be highly correlated with the level of absorbed dose

Biological and medical applications

The largest use of ionizing radiation in medicine is in medical radiography to make images of the inside of the human body using x-rays Radiation is also used to treat diseases in radiation therapy

 First x-ray taken

Biological and medical applications

Radiation Therapy
Radiation therapy is the treatment using penetrating x-rays, gamma-rays, or particles such as protons or neutrons on the affected region of the body, mostly to destroy the cancer cells Radiation therapy is a mordern treatment technique where the results are faster with fewer side effects than other more traditional forms of treatment

Biological and medical applications

External beam radiotherapy
In this therapy the external beam is directed towards the affected part of the patient's body This beam comprising of high energy particles, destroys the cancer cells External beam radiotherapy is also called teletherapy

Biological and medical applications

X-Rays
X-rays are a type of radiation used for medical diagnosis X-rays are produced in a X-ray machine which has a X-ray tube X-rays pass through the skin but are resistant to bones; this property of x-rays helps in finding any fractures in the patient's body

Biological and medical applications

Gamma Rays Gamma rays are energetic photons or a light wave in the same electromagnetic family as light and x-rays, but much more energetic and so, potentially harmful Gamma-rays can kill living cells and are used to kill cancerous cells