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- radiation
- radioactivity
- ionizing radiation injury
- ionization
- particle radiation
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- Physics LibreTexts - Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (Oct. 28, 2026)
ionizing radiation
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What is ionizing radiation?
Ionizing radiation includes electromagnetic waves (X-rays and gamma rays) and particle radiation (beams of subatomic particles). When ionizing radiation interacts with neutral atoms or molecules, it can cause them to become ions, or electrically charged entities.
Different types of radiation have different biological effectiveness per unit of dose. For example, alpha particle radiation absorbed in tissue is considered to be about 20 times more effective as a carcinogen than the same dose of gamma rays.
Exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation can have deleterious effects, including increased probability of cancer, cellular damage, and developmental abnormalities.
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How is ionizing radiation different from non-ionizing radiation?
Ionizing radiation includes electromagnetic waves (X-rays and gamma rays) and particle radiation (beams of subatomic particles, such as protons, alpha particles, beta particles, neutrons, positrons, and carbon ions). It is named as such because it can cause atoms to become ions, or electrically charged entities.
Nonionizing radiation includes ultraviolet light, infrared radiation, microwaves, and radio frequencies, all of which are electromagnetic waves. Nonionizing radiation is not as toxic as ionizing radiation. Nonionizing radiation and ionizing radiation also differ in their target organs; nonionizing radiation affects the skin and eyes.
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What are some common sources of ionizing radiation?
Ionizing radiation arises from both natural and human-made sources. Natural sources include cosmic radiation from space, terrestrial radiation from radionuclides in the Earth, radioisotopes in the human body from food and air, and radon gas from soil. Human-made radiation comes from medical and dental procedures, atomic bomb tests, nuclear plants, occupational activities, and consumer products. The largest nonoccupational sources are tobacco smoke for smokers and indoor radon gas for nonsmokers.
Exposure to high doses can be fatal without intervention, while lower doses are used in cancer treatment. Though radiation poses risks, efforts are made to minimize unnecessary exposure in medicine, science, and industry.
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How does ionizing radiation affect atoms and molecules?
Ionizing radiation interacts with atoms and molecules by causing them to become ions, or electrically charged entities. As ionizing radiation penetrates living matter, it deposits energy through random interactions with atoms and molecules, leading to the formation of reactive ions and free radicals.
X-rays and gamma rays, for example, transfer their energy to atomic electrons, ejecting them from their orbits and creating an ion pair consisting of a free electron and the charged atom. The ejected electron may produce a highly reactive free radical that can attack biologically important target molecules. The distribution of ionizing atomic interactions depends on the energy, mass, and charge of the radiation.
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Why can ionizing radiation be harmful to living things?
Ionizing radiation is harmful because it carries enough energy to disrupt molecular bonds within cells, particularly damaging DNA. This damage can lead to cell death or mutations. While some cells may be eliminated through damage response pathways, others can escape these pathways and propagate, potentially leading to malignant transformation and cancer. Additionally, ionizing radiation can kill rapidly dividing cells, such as immature blood cells, cells lining the gastrointestinal tract, and cells in hair follicles, leading to decreased blood cell production, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, skin burns, and hair loss.
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How do people protect themselves from the dangers of ionizing radiation?
Exposure to high levels of ionizing radiation can have harmful effects, so it's important to take precautions.
To protect against external radiation, stay indoors or wear masks with suitable filtration to keep airborne radioactive particles from the lungs during nuclear emergencies. You can also inhibit the absorption of ingested isotopes via the intestinal tract with mucoprotein substances.
In general, systematic efforts are made to avoid unnecessary exposure to ionizing radiation in medicine, science, and industry.
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ionizing radiation, flow of energy in the form of atomic and subatomic particles or electromagnetic waves that is capable of freeing electrons from an atom, causing the atom to become charged (or ionized). Ionizing radiation includes the more energetic end of the electromagnetic spectrum (X-rays and gamma rays) and subatomic particles, such as electrons, neutrons, and alpha particles (helium nuclei each comprising two protons and two neutrons).
Through the displacement of electrons (ionization), ionizing radiation effectively disrupts molecular bonds. In living organisms, such disruption can cause extensive damage to cells and their genetic material. A characteristic type of DNA damage produced by ionizing radiation, even by a single radiation track through a cell, involves closely spaced, multiple lesions that compromise cellular DNA repair mechanisms. Although most of the cells sustaining such radiation-induced damage may be eliminated by damage response pathways, some cells are capable of escaping these pathways, propagating, and eventually undergoing malignant transformation, a crucial step in cancer development.
Ionizing radiation is an established risk factor for cancer. Studies involving the irradiation of cells and experimental animals and epidemiological studies of populations that have experienced unusually high levels of radiation exposure for medical or occupational reasons have demonstrated clear links between ionizing radiation and cancer. Examples of the latter include the 1986 Chernobyl disaster and the 1945 atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. In the years following those catastrophic events, thousands of people suffered radiation-induced illness and cancer.
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Cancer risk is increased roughly in proportion to the amount of energy deposited in tissue (radiation dose, usually quantified in units of gray [Gy] or milligray [mGy], where 1 Gy corresponds to 1 joule of energy per kilogram of tissue). However, organs and tissues differ in their sensitivity to radiation carcinogenesis (cancer-causing ability). Cancer risk further varies by type of ionizing radiation, by gender, by age at exposure, by age and time following exposure, and by lifestyle factors, such as reproductive history and exposure to other carcinogens (e.g., tobacco smoke). On average, the bulk of radiation dose to individuals comes from natural background sources that have changed little over the span of human existence.
Sources and types of ionizing radiation
Ionizing radiation is produced by the radioactive decay of unstable isotopes of elements in rocks, soil, and body tissues and by nuclear reactions occurring in the Sun and distant stars. A major part of all exposure to such background radiation exposure is attributable to the inhalation of radon gas, which is produced by the radioactive decay of radium in rocks and soil and that, as it seeps out into the atmosphere, can become trapped and concentrated in poorly ventilated environments such as dwellings and underground mines. Radiation from radon and its radioactive decay products consists of mainly alpha particles, which have very limited ability to penetrate tissue but can damage cellular DNA in the lung if the radioactive source is inhaled and deposited in the airways. Gamma rays and X-rays, in contrast, are highly penetrating and can affect cells even when the radiation source is outside the body. Although electrons are only somewhat more penetrating than alpha particles, the immediate cause of most radiation-related damage to DNA is thought to stem from interactions with secondary electrons energized by transfer from electromagnetic or particle radiation originating outside the cell.
Different types of radiation differ somewhat in biological effectiveness per unit of dose. For example, alpha particle radiation absorbed in tissue is considered to be about 20 times more effective as a carcinogen than the same dose of gamma rays. The concept of equivalent dose, expressed in units of Sievert (Sv), was introduced for purposes of radiation protection. For gamma radiation, 1 mGy dose corresponds to 1 mSv dose equivalent, whereas for alpha radiation, 1 mGy dose corresponds to 20 mSv dose equivalent. Worldwide, the average annual human exposure to natural background radiation is 2.4 mSv per year.
Following the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen and of radioactivity the following year by French physicist Henri Becquerel, medical, industrial, and military uses of radiation technology were developed that eventually led to a marked increase in human population exposure to ionizing radiation. By the early 21st century in the United States, such human-made radiation contributed about 18 percent of the total annual radiation exposure to the human population. However, radiation doses to individuals can vary widely.
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As reference points, unusually high doses of ionizing radiation include dose equivalents in excess of 100 mSv. Whole-body exposures in excess of 4 Sv (4,000 mSv) are usually fatal in the absence of medical intervention, whereas much higher doses, limited to single organs or restricted parts of the body, are often used safely for treatment of cancer.