(classical music)
- Hey there, I'm Josh Clark,
and this is Brain Stuff
and this is the brain stuff
where I explain to you, how
radiation sickness works.
So, unless you, you know,
work around nuclear activity
or are an enemy of the Russian State,
you probably don't have much
to worry about as far as
exposure to radiation goes but,
there are situations where you
could be exposed to harmful
doses like a nuclear
meltdown, a nuclear explosion
even some medical equipment leaking
could expose you to a
harmful dose of radiation.
Plus you can never know too
much stuff. So here we go.
Not to freak everyone out but
radiation is everywhere all the time
and we're exposed to
it on a constant basis.
Something that's called
background radiation.
It's perfectly fine,
don't worry about that.
But when we're talking about
human exposure to radiation
we're talking about
something that's measured in
what are called sieverts.
And sieverts take into account
not just how much
radiation you're exposed to
but how much radiation we're
been exposed to over time,
say a year.
The intensity of the radiation
and the type of radiation
we were exposed to.
So for example, there's alpha particles.
These are low energy,
radioactive particles
that actually are deflected
off of our clothing.
The problem is we can still ingest them
and they can do terrible
things to us, like cause
lung cancer and the like.
Beta particles are a little more energetic
and they're actually smaller
than the alpha particles,
about 8,000 times smaller.
And they can actually penetrate our skin
which can create a lot of
problems for us as well.
But the big daddies are called gamma rays.
They're not even particles, they're rays.
And they come at ya, big
time, with high energy
and mess you up.
Like I said, we're exposed
to background radiation
all the time, but it's
not much to worry about.
In fact, the average
background radiation a person
is exposed to is something
like .00036 sieverts.
Which isn't a very big
amount, especially considering
that the average CT Scan
exposes a human being
to something like .01 sieverts.
The thing is, federal
guidelines say that we shouldn't
be exposed to more than
.05 sieverts within a year.
And it's not a big leap from
that to the radiation sickness
dose, that begins at .75 sieverts.
And remember, when we're talking
about radiation sickness,
we're saying cumulative amounts.
So when this stuff starts to build up,
you start to get sick.
Between three sieverts and
10 sieverts of exposure,
gives you about a 50% chance
of dying within 30 days.
This will come after your hair falls out,
your wrecked with nausea,
you start to scars beneath your skin.
Perhaps the worst thing about
radiation sickness is that
when you first show synonyms,
they only last for one to
two and then you appear to be
getting better.
But you've actually entered
what's called the latency period
where your body is getting
worse and worse and worse,
as you get sicker and sicker and sicker.
And after say something like
30 days, you're in big trouble.
So what can you do to protect yourself
from radiation sickness.
Well, wearing a lead
suit around everywhere,
all the time, is probably impractical,
but there are some steps you can take
in the real world, that
will keep you safe.
And number one amongst them
is, stay away from radiation.
If there's a radiation
leak around your house,
experts say that you should
go into a windowless room
and basically hide there
until you run out of food
or somebody comes to get you.
And of course everybody,
if you wanna know at home,
whether or not you've been
exposed to enough sieverts
to make you sick, just look
for the healthy green glow.
It's a dead give away.
So let us know, have you ever been
exposed to radiation sickness?
Leave a note in the comments.
We'd love to hear from you.
And while you're down there,
why not just subscribe to all
of our Brain Stuff videos?
You will love each and every single one.
And don't miss our beautiful
website, brainstuffshow.com.
It's the greatest.
