• Question: How long does it radiation to kill you

    Asked by 895furk43 to Chris, Joanne, Kathryn, Kieran, Sarah on 13 Nov 2017.
    • Photo: Sarah Guerin

      Sarah Guerin answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      That depends on a lot of things- what kind of radiation, how strong it is, what size you are etc. UV radiation from the sun passes through us all the time, and only if we get very badly burned a large number of times would we be at risk of dying from skin cancer, similarly with X-Rays.
      Laser light on the other hand, if very focused and strong, could burn your skin immediately, or even burn through you- like in James Bond, or when people try and focus sunlight on ants.

    • Photo: Chris Werner

      Chris Werner answered on 13 Nov 2017:

      Yup, like Sarah said, depends on the radiation! Looking at the radioactive radiation like in nuclear plants. If you were to pull out a fuel assembly from a nuclear power plant and place it on the wall and run at it from 50 feet away, you will die before touching it. In Chernobyl after the nuclear explosion (worth looking up!) there were people who had to stop the melting core from reaching the groundwater. If it hit it, it may have blown up half of Belarus. The people going down there knew they’d die in days…sadly true!

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