How come radioactivity causes deformitites?

compboyo

compboyo

compboyo

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I was reading the Chernobyl thread and it got me thinking.

How come nuclear radioactivity can deform living beings? Does it deform trees and grass and other such things?

It also effects unborn children etc...?

But in a general and a chemical/biological level can anyone explain what happens?

Cheers
 
My limited understanding is that the radiation destablises the structure of cells and causes them to mutate in some way. That's where the deformities come from. I think it does do the same to trees and other things too.
 
Simply put radioactivity causes DNA to replicate with faults as cells divide (in mature organisms or developing fetuses). The "incorrect" DNA codes for faulty cells/structures which are seen as deformities.
And yes, all living organisms can show mutations/deformities due to radiation.
 
I would have thought it would be similar to the way cancer works in destroying healthy cells which then regenerate only to be destroyed again and thus anomalies and errors creep in/deformities.

I could be wrong though.
 
Radiation messes up your DNA, like the source code of your own body. If the program carries on running with the flawed source code, the body will alter accordingly and some of it will be inherited by the offspring.
 
Your DNA codes for stuffs, radation messes it up meaning it now codes for something else and therefore you have another two arms. Something like that anyway.
 
Ok now I get that..So we all have DNA and the radioactivity effects the DNA..

But how is this? Its like a ray off light (but x ray etc...a laser we cant see...eg..the radioactive waves, gamma, alpha, beta waves?). These waves pass into the body and they destroy or change our cells/DNA?

But why and how? Its weird....We can pick up sound waves and it does not harm. I wonder what exactly causes radioactive waves to cause damage. Its really weird but fascinating
 
kylew said:
My limited understanding is that the radiation destablises the structure of cells and causes them to mutate in some way. That's where the deformities come from. I think it does do the same to trees and other things too.
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Yeah that is my understanding too - I done a short NBRC course a while back (I didn't have to - I was just interested in the subject and it was kinda relevant at the time). Basically theres a gauge for dosage. Small amounts are considered ok (I mean really small - like X-Rays etc but still have effects), moderate (where mutations occur), high (illness, death) and "black". Black is basically what was called "walking ghost syndrome" where you will seem fine for a few days but your DNA will break down (enzymes) and you will die within a few days. As your body cannot break down substances, osmosis in the intestines fails, cell walls break down etc.

Basically if you ever see a mushroom cloud put your head between your cheeks and kiss your arse good bye.

Put simply: don't play with radiation or it will play with you.

Back to your question radiation can manipulate chemical reactions, cells, enzymes in your body. Most likely outcome is cancer and severe mutation (not just physically but on the celular level). It causes errors in your DNA.

When your created by your father and your mother - you have a certain number of cells. These cells multiply (double) until the day you die. During this doubling radiation can mutate the doubles, as more and more "errored" cells are produced the greater the risk of mutation and passing it to offspring.

Thats my understanding, sure someone else on the forum can fill in the blanks.
 
The exact chemistry and physics is quite complex but is fascinating if you care to read up on it. In essence, it has to do with the amount of energy that is transferred by the lightwave/particle to the atoms in the DNA strand. Sound is usually very low energy so has no impact. Light, esp UV, can be high energy though, hence skin cancers.
 
So much misinformation in your thread.

DNA is actually a small man that lives inside your body. He can get a tan from radiation like we can from the sun, so he can get lazy and not do his job. This is why you are more likely to have a deformed child if you have sex in the sun.

Biology is amazing, really.
 
checjb said:
The exact chemistry and physics is quite complex but is fascinating if you care to read up on it. In essence, it has to do with the amount of energy that is transferred by the lightwave/particle to the atoms in the DNA strand. Sound is usually very low energy so has no impact. Light, esp UV, can be high energy though, hence skin cancers.
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right so radioactive waves have more energy in them. And this energy passes through your skin and penetrates into your organs etc..and this energy then reacts with your body particles and DNA causing damage and changing them?

Monserrat said:
I'm not sure how the light / wavelength affects cells, but I know for sure that sound can kill if it is loud enough. P.S. post 2000 :-)
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Yes if its real loud your head can literally explode :p
 
Have a little read up on genetic mutations and start with frame shift mutation. Should aid your understanding of what in the DNA actually gets changed and how these can directly effect formation of tissues.

DNA is also negatively charged and high energy radiation can force electrons up an energy level which can cause the physical shape of DNA to alter and become unusable also by the parent cell.
 
Troll or not, there are some good articles on Wikipedia on mutation and direct/indirect radiation damage. :)
 
Dunno why you'd think Id be trolling? The Stalker/cherynobl threads got me thinking?

But yeh maybe google search genetic mutations form radiation is a good idea
 
Its a good topic, and with ionizing radation, such as xrays the event so to speak might or might not happen.
Most rays are very powerful and pass right through, occasionally a dirct nuculus hit might occur, or lower energy scatter rays might hit.

No radiation level is safe, its all a lottery, one small xray exposure might give a person cancer whilst the next million with the same exposure wont be affected.
All a numbers game related to dose and the applicatio of where the ionizing rads come from.
Iirc a transatlsntic flight exposure due to altitude and loss of thick atmosphere prptection is similar in dose to a chest xray.
Ct scans have high dose, and someone like rob stewart who has a full body ct once a year to check for problems, should not have been surprised when it found his thyroid cancer, the repeated exposures could well have caused the bloody thing, but its impossible to prove either way.

Rads can be quite fascinating.
 
compboyo said:
right so radioactive waves have more energy in them. And this energy passes through your skin and penetrates into your organs etc..and this energy then reacts with your body particles and DNA causing damage and changing them?
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The ionising radiation it emits can alter chemical structures because of the energy they posess. Off the top of my head the mutating effects mainly come into play when the radiation alters one of the bases in a part of your DNA. So, there are four bases, A, T, G and C. The radiation damages whichever base it comes into contact with, often turning it into some other chemical structure which isn't normally part of DNA.
When your cell goes to replicate or repair that DNA, things get complicated, depending on what your cell is trying to do to it. Sometimes there are ways it can cut out the damaged base and replace it, sometimes the base is damaged in a way which makes it look more like one of the other bases (I *think* C-T conversions aren't unusual), and occasionally your cell has no idea which base it was supposed to be, so it cuts out the damaged one and inserts another base (can't remember if it's a C or a G) hoping for the best.

If you're really unlucky, the radiation can break the DNA backbone. Because it's a ladder structure there are 2 backbone bonds at each rung, so if you're really, really, unlucky, the radiation could actually break the entire DNA strand by snapping the backbone at both sides.

This is all based on bacterial DNA repair lectures I had a while ago and may not be totally correct...
 
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compboyo said:
I was reading the Chernobyl thread and it got me thinking.

How come nuclear radioactivity can deform living beings? Does it deform trees and grass and other such things?

It also effects unborn children etc...?

But in a general and a chemical/biological level can anyone explain what happens?

Cheers
Click to expand...

Think of radioactivity as a spitting frying pan, it splashes DNA in range and in turn damages them.
 
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