What are the biological effects of exposure to radiation?
The effect depends on the amount (dose), ranging from no effect (low) to death (high). For the most part, what radiation does is create ions in our cells, and these ions cause problems in the cell. damage may lead to cancer. The radiation may interact directly with biologically significant molecules, like DNA and proteins. Radiation may also interact indirectly to cause damage, by interacting with chemicals in our bodies, such as water, and form very active chemicals like free radicals that may cause damage to the biologically significant molecules. The damage can be fixed, or the cell may die, or it may actually affect the tissue/organ if there is enough damage. It is felt that the damage to the DNA is of the most importance, and could lead to increase risk of cancer. The damage could be to a single base pair, could cause the DNA to bind to itself or cause an actually break the DNA on one stand or more rarely, to both DNA strands. If the damage is not fixed or is fixed wrong and the c
