I’ve been looking for numbers. What is the probability of a radiation dose of x millisieverts producing a cancer? I should have found the BEIR VII report, BEIR standing for Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation, some time ago. It’s been almost 20 years since BEIR V was a constant background presence at my job, the […]
Tag: radioactivity
Cheryl Rofer: Radiation, radioactivity, and other terms
A commenter requested that I explain the difference between radiation and radioactivity. These two words are often used interchangeably by reporters, but they have different meanings. Confusing them is related to other misunderstandings. Radioactivity is the phenomenon of energy emission by unstable atoms. Radiation is what is emitted. More generally, Wikipedia defines radiation as: “a […]