WHY IS IT CALLED RADIO FREQUENCY RADIATION?
The term radiation simply means that something can spread out from its source, as heat can radiate from a campfire. Radio waves are a type of energy that radiates out from a source, just as light or sound does. The radio frequency energy produced by most sources are transmitted by antennas over distance. Radio waves are quite different from ionizing or nuclear radiation. As the figure shows, the spectrum of electromagnetic energies includes two categories, non- ionizing and ionizing radiation. The non-ionizing frequencies are those that produce energy that cannot break chemical bonds, or ionize, the chemicals in living tissue. The radio frequencies (RF) are non-ionizing. Infra-red and visible light are also non- ionizing radiation, and as the diagram shows, are higher frequencies than RF. Ionizing radiations, which include X- and gamma rays are the highest frequencies in the spectrum. This type of energy, found at frequencies higher than visible light, carry sufficient energy to alter
