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Which types of electromagnetic radiation have the shortest wavelengths?
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radiation
The harmful effects of radiation from nuclear bombing.
Within the electromagnetic spectrum, gamma rays are the type of electromagnetic radiation that possesses the shortest wavelengths and the highest energy.123
While there is some overlap between the gamma-ray and X-ray regions of the spectrum, gamma rays generally have wavelengths shorter than a few tenths of an angstrom (10⁻¹⁰ meters). There is no theoretical lower limit to the wavelengths of gamma rays, and they are typically produced during the disintegration of radioactive atomic nuclei or the decay of certain subatomic particles.23