The Effects of Radiation Pollution on the Environment
Simply mentioning the term "radiation" can bring up some negative associations such as mutation and death from nuclear weapons. Most radiation originates from earthly sources, and the real effects of radiation pollution depend on the type of radiation and the amount of energy emitted. High doses of radiation can kill, but low doses can actually benefit both plants and animal.
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Identification
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Just about everything emits radiation, according to the Health Physics Society. Radiation is any energy that travels through space, such as light, radio and even heat. The difference between radiation from a benign source, such as light, and harmful uranium is ionization. Charged particles are ionized and have excess energy that they need to give off in the form of light or alpha/beta particles.
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Misconceptions
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Although nuclear weapons do account for some radiation pollution, most comes from natural sources, according to JRank. Naturally occurring radon gas contributes to about half of all radiation exposure for the average individual. Cosmic background radiation and normal radiation from the body produce most of the rest of the amount of radiation pollution a human experiences. Nuclear testing counts for less than 1 percent of all radiation pollution.
Plant Growth
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Radiation can have a positive effects on plant growth at lower radiation levels, and harmful effects at high levels, according to the Health Physics Society. Plants need some types of non-ionizing radiation, such as light for photosynthesis. Ionizing radiation that one would get from from nuclear materials can weaken seeds and cause mutations at high doses. Low doses of radiation, however, can kill germs and reduce instances of food poisoning.
Animals/Humans
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The most dangerous effect of radiation on the environment is damage to humans and animals. Radiation can destroy any type of molecule by causing it to lose electrons, according to ScienceClarified. How much damage radiation causes to a living thing depends on its resiliency. If radiation destroys certain enzymes, you might just get sick. If radiation damages DNA and the body cannot repair itself, then cancer is a likely risk.
Notable Events
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Most of the attention focused on radiation pollution stems from nuclear weapons used on Japan and the accident at Chernobyl. In 1945, the United States exploded the only two nuclear weapons in a military operation on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. According to Health Physics Society Dr. S. Julian Gibbs, survivors of the cities still experience higher than normal cancer rates. In 1986, a Russian nuclear plant called Chernobyl leaked and caused massive amounts of radiation pollution in the surrounding area. Some plants, such as pine trees, died immediately along with most rodents, according to University of Southern California.
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- Photo Credit "Cofrentes" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: Toni Rodrigo under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
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Comments
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very helpful
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you forget the pollution which caused by using of (DU) weapons by USA and UK against Iraq.
