However, the sensitivity varies according to age and sex. The cells in children and fetuses divide more rapidly, providing more opportunity for radiation to disrupt the process and cause cell damage. Children and fetuses are especially sensitive to radiation exposure. Conversely, the cancer risk from radiation exposure declines as the dose falls: the lower the intensity, the lower the risk. The risk increases as the dose increases: the higher the dose, the greater the risk. They are highly penetrating and interacts with matter through ionization via three processes: photoelectric effect, Compton scattering, or pair production.Įxposure to low levels of radiation does not cause immediate health effects but can cause a small increase in the risk of cancer over a lifetime. Gamma rays have frequencies higher than about 1,018 cycles per second, or hertz (Hz), and wavelengths of less than 100 picometers (A picometer is one-trillion of a meter.) Gamma rays have enough energy to cause damage to living tissue, but almost all cosmic gamma rays get blocked by Earth’s atmosphere. Some violent events also create them, such as supernova explosions, the decay of radioactive materials in space, black holes, neutron stars, and pulsars, etc. Gamma rays are the most energetic forms of light and produce by the hottest regions of the universe.
Different wavelengths of light penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere to different depths. Gamma rays travel a long distance before they reach the Earth’s atmosphere and get absorbed in it. These waves generate in nuclear explosions and reactions which form unstable atoms known as radioactive atoms. Gamma rays have the smallest wavelength and the most energy of any other wave in the electromagnetic spectrum. The entire spectrum consists of a wide range of light from radio waves to gamma rays. The electromagnetic spectrum describes all the wavelengths of light, both seen and unseen, where most of them are invisible to us. Just like there are sound waves we can’t hear (but other animals can), there is also an enormous range of light that our eyes can’t detect.
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