Another problem is that I don't think you understand radiation properly.
A ray of radiation hits an orgainism and it gets a lot of radiation at one time.
Radiation comes in several forms
- Alpha decay (a He nucleus), although extremely lethal doesn't travel very far and is utterly stopped by something as thin as a piece of paper.
- Beta decay (high energy electron) have a little more range and penetrating power but do much less damage.
- Gamma decay (very high frequency photon) can travel through almost anything and has enough energy to damage covalent bonds.
- UV radiation from the sun (High frequency photon) is able to do the same as a gamma only to a lesser degree. It doesn't penetrate as far though.
- Neutron radiation. High energy neutrons pack a real heavy punch that is able to transform an atomic nuleus into a whole new isotope or even element. Only really happens in a nulear reactor core or during the natural decay of certain fissionable isotopes such as U235.
When something is hit by a
ray of radiation (I assume you mean a gamma ray) it is hit by one photon at a time, not a lot at once.
B. Radiation has a long half life and degrades in an organism slowly
The vast majority of radioactive isotopes actually have half lifes in the region of days or even as low as seconds. Longer lived isotopes include U235 (4.5 billion years) and Th232 (can't remember its HL right now)
Almost everything we touch, drink, eat, has Uranium in it at a level of a few parts per million.
C. The ammount of radiation an orginism has dromaticaly effects how mutch its going to mutate.
Wrong. Organisms do not
have different amounts of radiation. They may become
exposed to different amounts of radiation but they do not retain it.
D. Radiation is past on from parant to child in big ammounts because the radiation is inside the organism.
No it isn't. Since radioactive isotopes (beyond normal background levels) are not retained within an organism, it cannot pass them on. Anything that would raise the level this much will outright kill the organism.
E. An organism with experiance to radiation builds resestance to it. An organism that had no radiation for a long time loses resestance. (to getting effected by new radiation)
:blink:
You
ARE kidding? Right?
I guess you weren't.
Oh dear. Where to start?
This is just SO utterly wrong. You cannot
ever build up a resistence to radiation by being exposed to it. Radiation damage happens at the molecular level, way below cellular level. It physically breaks covalent bonds. Some creatures may secrete a substance that is able to harmlessly absorb a little of the photon radiation (UV and to a lesser degree, gamma) but
nothing can stop neutrons.
Hit C12 with a neutron and it becomes C13 which then beta decays to Berylium. Berylium does not share the same valency as Carbon so the molecule flys apart and there is nothing you can do about it.
F. Half of this things I had to gess on.
I could tell.
Organisms do not retain radiation unless they recieve a lethal dose in which case the organism will not be able to reproduce before it dies.
Radiation damage is an instantaneous thing.