Definition of Low and high irradiation - Radiation and biology (Nov/10/2006 )
I don't understand about the definition of low and high irradiation.
Are they diffirent on total doses or time of irradiation or something else?
and also Chronic and Acute irradiation are they just difference on time of irradiation or nor ? or are they have any condition which are difference ?
Radiation is measured by amount over time. Low and high depend on the type of radiation (UV, gamma, beta, alpha?)
Chronic is long term exposure (e.g. in a nuclear power plant), acute is a one-off incidence (having an x-ray for broken leg)
how can classify low dose ionizing radiation and high does by type if radiation.. I don't under this point ?
As I understand, the low dose or high dose radiation should be classified by total dose .. have I understood wrong ?
High is dependant on the effect of the radiation, for instance, UV is measured in Watts, therefore a dose that casues for example 50% of cells to die might be 5 Watts and could perhaps be considered to be a high dose, however, 5 Watts of red light will have absolutely no affect on your cells at all.
Ionising radiation such as gamma is measured in Greys (spelling might be Gray) it is an amount received, time taken to give that dose depends on the power of the source. I think 1 G is usually enough to kill most mice, but I could be mistaken. I would have thought for most studies that low and high doses would be determined by the sensitivity of the organism/cells being irradiated E.g 1 Grey might not be enough to kill an elephant, but it could kill a mouse.
Note the numbers I have used here are made up, I don't actually know the lethal doses.