• Question: what objects can stop radiation?

    Asked by 282bsmf24 to Ellen, Elliot, Hazel, Rupesh, Thomas on 21 Jun 2016.
    • Photo: Thomas Biggans

      Thomas Biggans answered on 21 Jun 2016:

      Radiation is stopped when it is absorbed by an atom so because all objects have atoms they can all help to stop radiation. But the radiation is only absorbed by the atom if it goes straight into it which means light or thin objects will let some radiation through the gaps in between atoms.

      To stop radiation you have to have an object that is really thick so there’s more chance that the radiation will hit an atom before it makes it to the other side or something that is really dense like lead where all the atoms are packed in close together so the gaps are smaller again making it more likely the radiation will hit an atom.

      Even air stops some of the radiation because there are atoms in the air but they’re very spread out so it doesn’t help much.

    • Photo: Elliot Jokl

      Elliot Jokl answered on 22 Jun 2016:

      I would just add, people stop radiation too, which is why radiation can be dangerous! The energy from the radiation causes damage to your cells. If people didn’t stop radiation, and it passed straight through us, we would not be harmed. But then, people like Thomas wouldn’t be able to use it to take images of people either, so that would create other problems.

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