Medical Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy and Weaopons

If a nuclear war or bomb was to occur, it would have a various amount ofnegative effects, or disadvantages, on the earth, plants, animals, and the human population. A majority of living organisms would be significantly harmed or killed. A large factor of a nuclear war or bomb is radiation. Radiation is an energy that proceeds from one place to another. There are four different types of radiation: electromagnetic radiation, mechanical radiation, nuclear radiation, and cosmic rays. Electromagnetic radiation is a specific kind of radiation including visible light, radio waves, gamma rays, and X-rays, in which electric and magnetic fields vary simultaneously.

Gamma rays are penetrating electromagnetic radiation of a kind arising from the radioactive decay of atomic nuclei. Mechanical radiation occurs when waves pass through air, water or solids, carrying energy. Nuclear radiation is energy particles or rays that are given off from a radioactive element, such as uranium, as it decays. Cosmic rays are highly energetic atomic nucleus or other particles traveling through space at a speed approaching that of light.

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Some radiation can be extremely harmful to all living things, like the radiation in a nuclear weapon. In a nuclear bomb, radioactive iodine and cesium are being discharged into the earth. Radioactive iodine is an explosive material in atomic bombs, and cesium is an extremely reactive metal. As radioactive material decays or separates, the energy discharged into the earth has two different ways of harming the body that is exposed to it. This then directly kills cells and causes mutations to D.

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N.A., deoxyribonucleic acid. If these mutations are not fixed or repaired, the cells can become cancerous.

For example, radioactive iodine tends to be absorbed by the thyroid gland and can cause thyroid cancer. Children are most in danger for thyroid malignant growth, or thyroid cancer, since their thyroid organs are multiple times smaller than those of adults. It takes an extremely high portion of radiation to increase cancer or disease risk. On a positive note, radioactive iodine is brief and does not last very long, it will be around for just around two months after a mishap. Radioactive cesium, on the other hand, can remain in the earth for over a century. However, it does not accumulate or gather, in one piece of the body the manner in which radioactive iodine does.

Radiation sickness is an illness caused by exposure of the body to ionizing radiation, characterized by nausea, hair loss, diarrhea, bleeding, and damage to the bone marrow and central nervous system. It is often fatal, causing death. Ionizing radiation is radiation that carries sufficient energy to detach electrons from atoms or molecules, thereby ionizing them. A person’s risk of acquiring radiation sickness depends on the amount of radiation the body has accumulated. Symptoms of radiation sickness show up when you're exposed to levels more than 500 millisieverts, or half a sievert, which is the biological effect of ionizing radiation. More than 4 to 5 sievert is most likely to be fatal.

The medical disadvantages or negative effects of a nuclear bomb are primarily due to air blast, thermal radiation, and residual nuclear radiation, or fallout. The air blast is a sudden rush of air in a confined space causing an explosion. Thermal radiation is electromagnetic radiation generated by the thermal motion of particles in matter. Residual nuclear radiation or fallout are radioactive particles that are carried into the atmosphere after a nuclear explosion and gradually come back as dust or precipitation.

Nuclear explosions produce air-blast effects similar to those produced by conventional explosives. Conventional weapons are weapons whose ability to damage comes from explosive energy and includes weapons of mass destruction. The shock wave can directly injure humans by rupturing eardrums, lungs or by hurling people at a high speed, but most casualties occur due to collapsing structures, or buildings, and flying debris. The shock wave is a widespread feeling of shock caused by an unexpected event, like a nuclear bomb.

A single nuclear explosion can cause an extreme pulse of thermal radiation that can start fires and burn skin over vast areas. In some cases, the fires ignited by the explosion can enhance into a firestorm, preventing the escape of survivors. Thermal effects from a nuclear explosion cause a significant amount of casualties. Thermal radiation’s energy is transmitted by electromagnetic waves or photons. Which is a form of energy waves that have both an electric and magnetic field. Electromagnetic waves are classified according to their frequency.

At some point during residual nuclear radiation, an atomic explosion happens near the ground surface, soil blends in with the profoundly radioactive parting items from the weapon. The debris is carried by the wind and falls back to Earth over a period of time. Residual nuclear radiation is the leftover radioactive material that moved into the atmosphere following a nuclear impact. Fallout is another name because it 'falls out' of the sky after the explosion and shock wave have passed. It commonly refers to the radioactive dust and ash created when a nuclear weapon explodes.

Not exclusively do nuclear bombs cause decimation, mass killing of a population, here they detonate, or explode, survivors and individuals presented to aftermath experience the ill effects of expanded malignancy, cancerous, rates and birth defects. Such an event isn't simply devastating or crushing for the individuals and areas exposed to the nuclear impact, the individuals who survive are still vulnerable to be contaminated by radiation. Even individuals more than five hundred miles from enormous nuclear bombs or tests have experienced enough radiation (because of climate blowing it in their direction) to expand malignant, or cancer rates and permanently harm infants. Nuclear explosions or blasts that came toward the end of World War Two and the explosions from a various amount of nuclear tests and explosions in subsequent years still effectively affect human health and well-being. Each living thing on the planet today gives some indication of being exposed to radiation.

The 1980s, researchers surveyed the potential effects of nuclear warfare and proposed the hypothesis or theory that a nuclear winter could occur. In the nuclear-winter situation, the blast or explosion of numerous bombs would raise extraordinary dust storms and radioactive material that would travel high into Earth's climate or atmosphere. These storms would block out sunlight. The reduced degree of sunlight would reduce the surface temperature of the planet and reduce photosynthesis by plants and microbes, or bacteria. The reduction in photosynthesis would upset the evolved way of life, disrupting the food chain, causing mass annihilation, extinction of life (including humans). This scenario is similar to the asteroid hypothesis or space rock theory that has been proposed to clarify the extinction of the dinosaurs. Defenders of the nuclear-winter scenario highlighted the dust storms and debris that traversed, traveled, the planet after the volcanic emissions, or eruptions of Mount St. Helen in the United States and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

Immediate effects incorporate death and injury brought by overpressure, the destruction and collapse of buildings and structures, and heat and fire. Introduction to instantaneous radiation (gamma rays and neutrons) produces radiation syndrome or disorder with sickness and, possibly, death. At generally low doses, it weakens bone marrow. At higher doses, damage occurs to the gastrointestinal tract, and at extremely high doses damage occurs to the cerebrum, commonly referred to as the brain. The individuals who endure or survive the intense impacts of nuclear explosion will even now be confronted by extended non-recuperating wounds, suppurating extensive burns, skin infestations, gastrointestinal infections and psychic trauma.

Updated: Feb 17, 2024
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Medical Advantages and Disadvantages of Nuclear Energy and Weaopons. (2024, Feb 17). Retrieved from https://studymoose.com/medical-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-nuclear-energy-and-weaopons-essay

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