Booze Zombie said:
wkrepelin said:
Dude, that's not true. You can't sleep it off it it mutates your DNA even if you won't die of radiation poisoning. Check out the Chernobyl disaster. That's what real fallout is like. The survivors envy the dead.
The liver bit is funny though.
Edit: in regards to OT I'd try to setle down in the largest town I could but probably just get shot in the face.
Thanks.
But I'm pretty sure I have read that your body simply processes the radiation and you can sleep it off, should you get away from a source of radiation without being burnt to death or some such and assuming it hasn't burnt you to death, you can probably wait a week to a month and you'll probably be back to normal.
Assuming it wasn't a nearly fatal does, then you probably would be pretty messed up...
Though, if we didn't process radiation, our sun would've killed us long ago, so I'm pretty sure I'm not talking incorrectly here, I might just not be 100 percent spot on.
You're definitely partly right there.
Not all radiation exposure will kill or even hurt you. All forms of light, including radio waves, microwaves etc. are forms of radiation. Electromangnetic to be specific. As we both know this is not usually lethal.
Not usually but can be, sunlight is a principle cause of most melanomas (skin cancers). Even though you don't get "radiation poisening from sunlight it can still mutate your DNA and lead to death. Once your DNA is mutated it doesn't matter. Your liver has nothing to do with checking the proper functioning of your genetic code.
There's another step here though, the mutation must not change the coding for the identification protiens on the surface of the cell (sort of an ID badge for your cells in your body, this is what makes organ donation tricky and why the body rejects some organ transplants)or else your immune system will perceive the mutated cells as a forign body and attack them. It's scary but we develop cancer all the time and our immune system just takes care of it for us because these ID protiens are altered as well.
The other types of radiation are not electromagnetic in nature but have to do with the decay of atomic nuclei or the ejection of single subatomic particles from nuclear reactions (as in a nuclear detonation).
When a nuclear weapon is detonated not all of the unstable material (uranium or plutonium for example) is converted into energy via e=mc^2 but, rather, is distributed into the atmosphere by the explosion which then falls, hence fallout, down to earth (these weapons are detonated inth e atmospher not at ground level) where it gets into the watertable and soil as well as being inhaled by any resperating organisms. These heavy elements continue to decay over time emitting forms of radiation as they do. Many of these heavy elements cannot be removed by the liver much like lead or mercury. Once it's in the body it just gets into the organ systems and continues to decay doing cumulative damage over time.
So, while you are absolutely correct that there are some types of radiation that the body can handle in the proper dosed with less risk (there is
always a risk that even your TV will give you cancer from one viewing it's just probabilistically remote) there are definitely types of radiation exposure that your body cannot cope with even over time. Ideally you want to be exposed to something with a very short half-life and in low concentrations.
I know this post is way to big but I'm about to start Grad school in physics and I rarely get to use the knowledge I have conversationally. As you might imagine it doesn't make me a big hit at parties. So, please don't consider this me trying to "flame" you or something it was really just fun for me to get to put some of this stuff out there and not really meant to argue or whatever.
Cheers friend.
