Why just radiation this time?
954149
my mother in law just went through this and just had radiation too.  her doctor said the cancer was in a fairly small area, and the radiation was just as effective and wouldn't give her the side effects of chemo, but if it came back or they found it had spread, she would have to have the chemo then.  good luck to your sister!
821096
Because being so dense, Uranium is higly unstable. A normal atom simply shouldn't contain that many protons, neutrons, and electrons, so every once in a while, protons start popping out, which is what causes the radiation output. Over time, Uranium gradually changes into lighter and lighter elements through the loss of its electrons. This process is called radioactive decay.\n\nBTW, I don't mean to show off, but I'm only 14.
826238
Radiation therapy is often used to treat cancer.  Nuclear energy also produces much power.
120284
Skin reddening (erythema) can occur after exposure to radiation HOWEVER the dose of radiation introduced to a patient and a patient's skin in general diagnostic radiography is not even close to damaging enough to cause any kind of radiation burns, spots, marks, etc. The modern (ie, since we've known radiation should be handled with care) cases of radiation burns that I've seen involved intense surgical procedures where the patient was exposed to over an hour (versus 1 or 2 seconds max for regular x-rays) of high energy fluoroscopy during procedures such as cardiac cath.\n\nI'm assuming you had a chest x-ray (?). Hopefully this will make you feel better: the general rule of thumb is that a chest x-ray results in a radiation dose similar to that of what you would recieve flying in a high altitude (say, transatlatic flight) plane for several hours. Remember, as a human on earth you are constantly being exposed to radiation in the form of solar and terrestrial radiation. And, while it does need to be administered safely, that is the reason why we have "radiologic technologists" working at our hospitals. These people go through a lot of training to ensure that patients are not being over exposed.\n\nAs for why the tech had to repeat, often times a patient's individual anatomy does not allow for everything that the doctor needs to see to fit on one picture. If something is missing the tech might have to center differently and take another exposure. \n\nIt may make you feel better to know that Neonatal intensive care babies often recieve several x-rays, everyday, for weeks while they are in the hospital. As babies they are considered to be extremely sensitive to radiation and even so, with all the x-rays, they still grow up fine, healthy, and with no ill effects.\n\nI do not think you have to worry about the exposure that you recieved ;-)
1154190
radiation? do you hear yourself?\n\nit looses heat b/c it doesn't get enough energy to keep it warm!  a solar cover is a good way to create that needed energy as it uses the suns rays and not weighing down your electricity bill.
569245
Everything in this universe emanates radiation, including your body. The only exception is objects that are already at absolute zero.
563214
Ok I think that what you don't understand and what really has not been pointed out yet is that radiation is produced by the decay ( or breakdown) of atoms in the nuclear material.\n\nSay you have a few pounds of nuclear waste. You have Billions and billions and billions of atoms. Remember Avogadro's number? That is the number in just a mole of material. Now imaging that number multiplied by the number of moles in a few pounds! That's a lot of atoms.\n\nNow a fire burns out because it runs out of material to burn. However with all those billions of atoms it could take tens of thousands of years for all the material to be used up.\n\nie if the half life is 10,000 years, that means we have only used up half the material in 10,000 years. So if we had 10 pounds of nuclear waster, in 10,000 years we would still be left with 5 pounds!\n\nNow think of Einsteins famous equation E=mc2.\nm is the mass, c is the speed of light squared, and E is the\nenergy you get out of it. As you can see, even in a very small amount of mass there is tremendous energy.\n\nSo sum it up, even though very small amounts are decaying and giving off large amounts of energy. It is going to take thousand and thousands of years before it is used up.that is why it lasts so long.
689133
gamma radiation i think. alpha and beta are relatively weak.
386593
I assume they want to know about nuclear radiation.  Some basic facts:\n- 3 types are alpha, beta and gamma\n- All are found in nature, you carry it around in you, it comes from just about all natural materials to some small degree.\n- Naturally occuring radiation is little to worry about, we evolved with it and our bodies can handle it.\n- In most areas of the world, natually occuring radiation hits each square inch of your body between 12-18 times per minute!  Radiation can not be felt by the body.\n- Alpha is the biggest particle (nucleaus of a helium atom) and moves slowly.  Not enough speed to even penetrate the layer of normal dead skin on your body.  \n- Beta is an electron moving at higher speeds.  It too is motly blocked by skin, but in high dosages can start to become a problem.\n- Gamma is not a particle, but a wave like light (but much higher frequency).  X-rays and cosmic rays are the best known.  Cosmic rays are the most common type of radiation that hit our bodies per above.  It comes from high speed particles interacting with our atmosphere.  \n- The small amounts of natural radiation we encounter everyday is not a significant problem, but concentrated sources of radiation are.  These have historically included x-rays, byproducts of nuclear bombs or reactors, mishandled medical/agricultural/engineering equipment.  \n- Ingested alpha and beta emitting materials are dangerous even in tiny amounts and can cause cancer.
927391
I'm very interested in becoming an radiology technologist, and from what I've heard, nowadays, the equipment is so good and improved that techs recieve little or no radiation.  There are actually little pins that techs can wear to track how much radiation they are exposed to, and like I said, with the new equipment, the pins have been very helpful in confirming the lack of exposure.
644289
cause they just might be NUCLEAR!!!
1013494
I think it happens from an excess of silicon and suns rays. Oh, and drugs, lots of drugs. I don't know, I am just hanging around here to see what kind of answers you get.
48000
It doesn't help at all, no. Plants are not radiation shields, not that computers emit any dangerous radiation anyway!
800890
I really don't know where this radiation rumor started, I assume somewhere on the internet, but it is an absolute load of garbage.  Old CRT monitors did put out radiation, an amount that was completely and totally negligible.  Radiation is NOT a concern when buying a computer, PERIOD.\n\nSome laptops do get hot after a while.  The only reason you would want a laptop is if you need your computer to be mobile, that is it.  In every other aspect, a desktop is the clear choice.
135186
If the radiation has killed enough cells in one spot, it can last the rest of your life. You should have a doctor evaluate your problem, since it's possible that you need surgery to repair a section of your colon, or that you may have developed cancer that is causing the problem.
979286
Tell the second friend to stop being such a fraidy-cat wimpy weenie.\n\nWe are surrounded and exposed to radiation every second of every day.  Radiation is not the problem, it is the amount of radiation over a specific period of time that causes trouble.  Just like with laying out in the sun to get a tan -- if you lay out for 30 minutes per day, you get a nice, even tan.  If you lay out for 8 hours on the beach, you get a painful burn.\n\nSame thing for everyday radiation exposures -- the human body can repair a small amount of radiation damage, such as the exposure you get from a dental X-ray or being in a granite building.  What the body has trouble with is repairing a large amount of damage done by high-intensity radiation absorbed in a very short period.
623966
2 reasons:\n\n1) Chernobyl spewed out far more radiation over a much longer period of time than the Hiroshima bomb.  It is still emitting radiation, although most is contained.\n\n2) the fallout from Chernobyl landed mostly on land where it still can affect the immediate enviroment.  The fallout from Hiroshima landed primarily in the sea, and water is an excellent absorbing agent and a dispersing agent for the radiation.