What is atomic radiation?
Dr. Ralph W. Brauer, state radiological defense chief, says an analogy can be made by comparing the source of radiation to the machine gun—an instrument from which an almost continuous stream of bullets issues.
He reminds that bullets from the machine gun are going to penetrate most deeply if they aredischarged with the greatest amount of energy. Secondly, Dr. Brauer says, a
bullet can be thought of as essentially a little package — the energy of the explosion is packaged in the bullet and becomes unpacked when the bullet strikes its target.
Both concepts apply to most kinds of radiation.
Dr. Brauer explains:
"It is quite fair and in many instances accurate to think of any kind of radiation as being made up of little packages of energy— whether it radiates from a kitchen stove, the light from an ordinary light bulb or the ultra 'violet of the sun which gives one a sunburn.
"The main peculiarity of the so-called ionizing rays emanating from radioactive material is that their packages contain a lot of energy."
GAMMA OR X-RAYS
Dr. Brauer explains that those ionizing rays which are truly comparable to light rays are called gamma rays or X-rays and because of their very great energy penetrate deeply. He continues:
"Other rays behave a little differently.
'To continue our analogy of the machine gun — if the gun is firing much heavier and bulkier bullets so that now the bulk of the bullet becomes important, one can readily see that with the same charge a light bullet that weighs an ounce or less' will travel much faster than a large, heavy bullet and that it will penetrate its target much deeper than the heavier one.'*
Rays which correspond to the heavier, bulkier b u 11 e t s, Dr. Brauer suggests, are known as ''corpuscular rays'*—rays associ-j ated with corpuscles. Neutron Rays
In practice, this means that where gamma rays will pass through a few feet pi concrete, corpuscular rays of one type will penetrate half an inch of concrete and those of another type will not even penetrate a sheet of paper.
Yet another type of radiation coming from radioactive processes is known as neutron rays. These, too, are extremely penetrating.
Dr. Brauer continues:
"The machine gun analogy serves another purpose, namely, that of suggesting that when rays that will penetrate deeply enough pass through living tissues, they will produce changes along their lines of flight through the tissue. --Immediate Repair--"Those changes often can be repaired at once. It is as though you were shooting your bullet into a tank of water. For a moment, the water would be divided and torn apart by the bullet and almost at once would close back again- to obliterate the track of the projectile."
Continuing the comparison, Dr. Brauer says:
"Some of these bullets, however, produce changes that can-not be repaired too quickly and that remain, to add up to noticeable changes in a tissue."
Finally, Dr. Brauer says:
"These changes are the basis at once of the medically useful effects of the atomic radiations, and of many of the dangers associated with radiological warfare."
