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Electromagnetic Waves - What are Gamma rays?
Electromagnetic
waves with a wavelength shorter
than X-rays
are called gamma rays or gamma radiation
(not gamma waves).
Gamma rays are part of the electromagnetic
spectrum.
Gamma rays may be emitted from radioactive materials.
Gamma rays have the highest
energy of all electromagnetic
waves. This means that they are dangerous
to living cells.
Low intensity gamma radiation
can
damage living cells
and cause cancer.
What is Radiotherapy?
High intensity
gamma radiation will kill cells.
It is used in a technique called radiotherapy to treat
cancer
by targeting the cancer cells with a
beam of radiation
and then rotating the source of the beam as
shown below.
The normal
cells receive a lower dose of
gamma radiation
than the cancer cells, where all the rays meet.
Radiotherapy aims to kill
the cancer cells while doing
as little damage as possible to healthy normal cells.
Gamma
radiation is also used to kill microorganisms. This
is called
sterilising.
Gamma
radiation is used to sterilise food
and hospital equipment such as
surgical
instruments.
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