What is the difference between radio and gamma radiation?

Answer 1

They are both electromagnetic energy, so it that light (he, he) they are the same. But the gamma rays are of much higher frequency, and that means shorter wavelength and higher energy. As we move up the electromagnetic spectrum from light, we go to ultraviolet (UV) light, X-rays and then gamma rays.

Answer 2

A photon is a bundle of electromagnetic energy, and can be infrared light, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays, or gamma rays, depending on its energy. A gamma ray is a photon with 100 thousand times more energy than light (so about a million electron-volts), a frequency that's 100 thousand times higher than light (about a billion trillion vibrations per second), and with a wavelength that's 100 thousand times shorter than light (size of an atom, equal to a picometer, or one-hundredth of an angstrom). Gamma rays are super energetic photons (compared to light photons), so that you'll get cancer much faster from exposure to gamma rays compared to same exposure to just sunlight, but you'll only get exposed to gamma rays if you're around radioactive material or are an astronaut in space.

Answer 3

The primary difference between radio and gamma radiation is the energy of the radiation. Both radio waves and gamma radiation are forms of electromagnetic radiation, but there is a broad difference in the frequency of each (and, therefore, the wavelength and energy). Let's look at both types of radiation.

Radio waves are electromagnetic (EM) radiation at the lower end of the EM spectrum. Above radio waves an on up the spectrum we find microwaves, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet light, X-rays and gamma rays. Note that gamma rays are at the top of the EM spectrum. They have the highest frequency, the shortest wavelength (because frequency and wavelength are inverses of each other), and also the highest energy. A primary difference is that gamma rays are a form of ionizing radiation.

Radio waves, including microwaves, are forms of EM radiation that have a certain amount of penetrating power and can heat things (like in a microwave oven). But they have limited penetrating power. These EM waves can act on stuff by what is called dielectric heating. That's what happens in a microwave oven. But none of these radio waves can penetrate metal. Gamma rays can. Gamma rays have so much energy that they can "cut through" a metal matrix and come out the other side. Yes, there is some attenuation, but depending on the energy of the gamma ray and the density and thickness of the metal, gamma rays can get through.

Because gamma rays have so much energy, they can "pass by" complex chemical molecules and "transfer" a bit of their energy into the molecule to break chemical bonds. They are particularly effective at breaking covalent bonds, which are the ones most common in biochemical materials. This makes gamma rays much more dangerous than lower energy forms of EM radiation. (Radio waves can't do what gamma rays can.) As gamma rays can break chemical bonds, they can "modify" biochemical materials, and can actually kill it. They can also damage DNA in cells, and this can have a profound effect on the cell's ability to repair itself and stay alive. Gamma rays have a number of medical uses. One might be sterilizing stuff like band aids. (You didn't think these were heated to kill things on them, did you?) Another use of gamma rays is irradiation of tissue that has malignant growths in it.

Gamma rays generally tend to do more damage to tissue that is associated with high rates of metabolism. That's why hair follicles and the lining of the intestines in people being given radiation treatments are so dramatically affected. Hair falls out and people become nauseated to the point of vomiting. It turns out that many cancers have similarly high "metabolic curves" and take more damage from ionizing radiation than other tissue. These ideas, coupled with our ability to deliver radiation in a more concentrated dose to areas we actually want to treat (by using various methods), allow us to actually prescribe effective radiation treatments. These treatments do a lot of damage, but they do less damage to tissue we want to "keep" than to tissue (like cancerous cells) that we want to eliminate. That makes the cost benefit ratio positive and the risks acceptable in many cases.

There is more to this story, and books have been written to speak to the medical issues associated with radiation treatment. But this explanation of the two types of EM radiatin asked about (radio waves and gamma rays) permits some insight into what each is about.

Answer 4

Both of these classes of radiation are examples of Electromagnetic radiation, which also includes radio, TV, microwaves, infra-red (heat), visible light, and X-rays. The characteristic that separates each one from all the others is the wavelength of the radiation.

Answer 5

Gamma rays have a higher frequency. Therefore, they also have a higher energy, and a lower wavelength.

Answer 6

Gamma rays have a higher frequency (shorter wavelength) than X rays. Gamma radiation has a frequency greater than 30 exahertz 3 x 10 19. X rays are between 30 petahertz and 30 exahertz.

Answer 7

UV is shorter wavelength than IR.

Answer 8

no

Answer 9

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