Biology Forums - Study Force

Ok, I am a bit confused about ionizing vs. nonionizing...

What are the effects of radiation on DNA (ionizing and nonionizing)

Is UV radiation, nonionizing?

what category does x-rays and gamma rays fall in?

What happens during the process of skin tanning?

Hey oceansweet, the diagram below should help:

Radiation having a wide range of energies form the electromagnetic spectrum, which is illustrated below. The spectrum has two major divisions:

non-ionizing radiation
ionizing radiation

Radiation that has enough energy to move atoms in a molecule around or cause them to vibrate, but not enough to remove electrons, is referred to as "non-ionizing radiation." Examples of this kind of radiation are sound waves, visible light, and microwaves.

Radiation that falls within the ionizing radiation" range has enough energy to remove tightly bound electrons from atoms, thus creating ions. This is the type of radiation that people usually think of as 'radiation.' We take advantage of its properties to generate electric power, to kill cancer cells, and in many manufacturing processes.

The energy of the radiation shown on the spectrum below increases from left to right as the frequency rises.

Nonionizing Radiation

We take advantage of the properties of non-ionizing radiation for common tasks:

microwave radiation-- telecommunications and heating food
infrared radiation --infrared lamps to keep food warm in restaurants
radio waves-- broadcasting

Non-ionizing radiation ranges from extremely low frequency radiation, shown on the far left through the audible, microwave, and visible portions of the spectrum into the ultraviolet range.

Extremely low-frequency radiation has very long wave lengths (on the order of a million meters or more) and frequencies in the range of 100 Hertz or cycles per second or less. Radio frequencies have wave lengths of between 1 and 100 meters and frequencies in the range of 1 million to 100 million Hertz. Microwaves that we use to heat food have wavelengths that are about 1 hundredth of a meter long and have frequencies of about 2.5 billion Hertz.

Ionizing Radiation

Higher frequency ultraviolet radiation begins to have enough energy to break chemical bonds. X-ray and gamma ray radiation, which are at the upper end of magnetic radiation have very high frequency --in the range of 100 billion billion Hertz--and very short wavelengths--1 million millionth of a meter. Radiation in this range has extremely high energy. It has enough energy to strip off electrons or, in the case of very high-energy radiation, break up the nucleus of atoms.

Ionization is the process in which a charged portion of a molecule (usually an electron) is given enough energy to break away from the atom. This process results in the formation of two charged particles or ions: the molecule with a net positive charge, and the free electron with a negative charge.

Each ionization releases approximately 33 electron volts (eV) of energy. Material surrounding the atom absorbs the energy. Compared to other types of radiation that may be absorbed, ionizing radiation deposits a large amount of energy into a small area. In fact, the 33 eV from one ionization is more than enough energy to disrupt the chemical bond between two carbon atoms. All ionizing radiation is capable, directly or indirectly, of removing electrons from most molecules.

There are three main kinds of ionizing radiation:

alpha particles, which include two protons and two neutrons
beta particles, which are essentially electrons
gamma raysand x-rays, which are pure energy (photons).