What is background radiation?
So, we live here on planet earth, I assume you're watching from planet earth
I hope you are...
..actually do I?
Anyway...
on earth there are various types of radiation which we are exposed to
all the time some of that radiation comes from the sun as cosmic rays
some of that comes from the food we eat - some of it comes from rocks which might be nearby
some of it might come from medical equipment - if you were going to have an x-ray
some of it might come if you walk over Hiroshima or Chernobyl
or somewhere which has experienced some sort of nuclear disaster like Fukushima
but most of it comes from radon gas - 50% of all the background radiation comes from
radon gas
which has the symbol Rn and it's just this colourless, odourless
radioactive gas which is present in the air all around us
it depends on what kind of rocks are nearby
as to its concentration and how prolific it is
but in general, most of the background radiation is accounted for from this radon gas
there are little spots within different countries with slightly greater concentrations
depending on what the rock type around it is certain rocks give off
more radiation than others
background radiation isn't really a problem for us in general
unless you're in exceptional circumstances
if you're an airline pilot you are exposed to a few more cosmic rays than
us down on the earth at sea level because most of the
dangerous cosmic rays are absorbed by the earth's atmosphere
so not many of them actually make it through the atmosphere
through the ozone to actually affect us although some do, about 10-15% roughly
most of it (background radiation) comes from radon gas
we get some from food, we get some from...
... rocks we get some from medical imaging
only a tiny tiny fraction - I mentioned at the beginning
nuclear power stations and fallout etc etc
but actually only a tiny fraction of background radiation does come from those sources
around 1% so it's really a minuscule amount in the grand scheme of things
so that's background radiation for you
you can learn more about half life here or the types of radiation here
so you can check those out
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and i'll just type back to you and answer them so...
thanks for watching and i'll see you again next time
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