Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff, I'm Lauren vogel Bomb and today's episode is a classic, by which I mean it's from the past and from our former host, Christian Sager. This one was inspired by some of the comments on our YouTube channel. We've done an episode about diesel versus nuclear submarines and made a perhaps ill conceived joke about nuclear radiation exposure and a healthy green glow. To set the record straight about irradiation,
we created this episode about how radiation sickness really works. Also, if you've been watching Chernobyl, this one is pertinent. Hey, I'm Christian Sagar and this is brain stuff. For most people, ionizing radiation isn't something we need to worry about, but some unexpected events can make us sick from radiation, like nuclear power plant accidents, atomic bombs, leaks and medical or industrial devices or acts of terrorism. And what we know
about severe radiation sickness is from incidents like these. So radiation it's actually everywhere. It's in the atmosphere, the ground, the water, and even our own bodies. We call this natural background radiation and it's perfectly safe. Radiation strips electrons away from atoms, creating a positively charged atom called an ion. Therefore, high energy radiation is called ionizing radiation. Releasing the electron produces thirty three electron volts of energy, and this heat
surrounding tissue and disrupts some chemical bonds. Extremely high energy radiation can destroy the nuclei of atoms, releasing even more energy and causing more damage. The resulting radiation sickness is a cumulative effect of all of this damage on a human body bombarded with radiation. Now, radiation exposure is measured in units called millarem or m rem. Higher readings are measured in ms v, which are multiples of one hundred m rem. In the US, we get an average annual
dose of three hundred and sixty m rem. More than eight comes from natural background radiation. And there are three kinds of ionizing radiation. Alpha particles are the first, and they're the least dangerous. They don't penetrate deeply into our skin if they do at all, because clothes can stop the particles, but they can be inhaled or ingested, usually as a raid on gas, and they can also lead to lung cancer. Beta particles are another one. These are
when electrons move quickly with a lot of energy. There are eight thousand times smaller than alpha particles, so they can penetrate the skin and this can burn us or cause tissue damage. Beta particles can be ingested if they enter food or water supplies. And then we've got the most dangerous, which are gamma rays, extremely high energy that travels through matter. Since they have no mass, these can be only blocked by several inches of lead or concrete.
If you're exposed to them, they run through your whole body, affecting the tissue and even the marrow of your bones, and these cause widespread systemic damage. So how does radiation make a sick Well, it deposits energy into our tissue, causing cell damage, and this can make our cells abnormal or malignant. Huge amounts of radiation can kill within days or hours in acute exposure, and frequent exposure to low doses over long periods is called chronic exposure. This causes
a delay in those health effects. However, when we're talking about amounts of radiation needed to trigger radiation sickness symptoms, it's in terms of total dosage, and this also takes into account radiation intensity. How much is absorbed into the human body, how long the exposure is, and the types of radiation involved, and this is quantified as the civert, measured by the absorption of energy multiplied by the radiation type. So, for instance, a CT scan is equal to point zero
one siverts of radiation. Now, federal guidelines limit your maximum annual dose to point zero five siverts. The average person gets point zero zero three six siverts from background radiation. Point seven five siverts can be enough to induce radiation sickness, including nausea in a weak immune system. Three siverts is more severe, but it won't kill you. Five siverts and higher radiation will start damaging your skin so it doesn't heal properly. Your hair will fall out, scars develop under
your skin, swelling and forming keloids. Now, between three siverts and ten siverts gives you a fifty chance of dying in thirty days, and an instant dose of ten severts that will be fatal even with medical care. The effects of radiation sickness include initial symptoms like nausea, diarrhea, headaches, fever, and a loss of consciousness. With high doses, you'll also see burns to the skin, and symptoms occur more quickly the higher the dose, but they fade over one to
two days. The latent period is where there are no symptoms over several weeks, and after this period real damage is evident. Bone marrow is vulnerable and can't produce enough red or white blood cells, and this makes victims anemic and susceptible to infections. It also damages the digestive systems lining, and this allows bacteria to migrate from there into your blood, causing more infections. So you're probably wondering, well, what's the
treatment available. Well, that begins with decontaminating the patient. If radioactive material is still present, washing and special drugs like Prussian blue dye can be used, and these drugs bind radioactive particles and flush them from your body. You'll also want to evaluate your exposure with symptom checks using blood tests or a Geiger counter. You'll want antibiotics for the infections, and blood transusions are used to compensate for damaged bone marrow.
Actual marrow transplants are used in even more severe cases, and pills can reduce the symptoms of exposure. For instance, potassium iodide tablets prevent radioactive iodine from concentrating in your thyroid. However,
it does not protect you from direct radiation exposure. To prevent that, well, you can start by avoiding radiation, but the CDC recommends that you stay inside your home because the walls can block some radiation and the safest room in your house is the one with the least windows. Once you're in a safe place, figure out if you've been contaminated. Ways to do this would be get out of the area, remove your outer clothes and put these
clothes in a plastic bag away from all others. Wash all your exposed body parts, and any internal contamination may need medical attention. Now you know what to do if you've been exposed to enough radiation to cause serious sickness. Today's episode was written by Ben Bullen and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff Works
dot com. Plus. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.