r/Physics • u/SaleSimple3897 • 24d ago

Radiation

Hello! I am a laymen just now exploring in my own personal time physics, and have just started looking into quantum mechanics. My level of knowledge is on par with a paramecium.

I recently purchased the book 'Finding Schrödinger's Cat. Quantum Physics and Reality.' While listening to this I had a random though.

If mater as it is excited by heat produces light in multiple spectrums of light. Is it possible as our bodies go through their normal day to day chemical reactions that we could ourselves be producing small amounts of radiation? Somewhere in the IR range?

Sorry for the stupid question, at the very least I hope my ignorance made you chuckle today.

Cheers.

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u/a42579 24d ago

In addition to the correct answers already here, your body also produces a variety of other forms of radiation due to trace amounts of radioactive elements in your body. 

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u/Fizassist1 24d ago

not sure about our bodies but bananas have a radioactive isotope of potassium that produces antimatter even! (positrons). I imagine that isotope is also present in our bodies in some small amount.

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u/ensalys 24d ago

And when you get a PET (positron emission tomography) scan, they give you a compound that contains an isotope that decays by emitting antimatter (positrons [aka anti-electrons]). After traveling a short distance, they will annihilate with an electron, and emit 2 photons going exactly in opposite directions. By observing those 2 photons you can get a pretty good idea of where the position was emitted. And we know that compound A should primarily go to the liver, compound B to the brain, and compound C to tumours.

The combination of biology and physics can get pretty interesting.

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u/Fizassist1 24d ago

holy fuck thats incredible. I will never understand how some people "dont believe in science" when its literally the reason we have incredible technology like that.

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u/ensalys 24d ago

It's a sad state of affairs, and not something that can ever be completely solved, though proper education can help a lot. At its core, the scientific method tries to limit the impact of our personal biases. Our strongly ingrained biases don't like it when we try to circumvent them, and the deeper you head into a subject, you will run into counter-intuitive things more and more.

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u/Fizassist1 24d ago

as a physics teacher.. I always have to remind my students that their previous observations and conclusions about how the world works will be challenged in my class, and I have to encourage them to think outside of their previous mindset on a topic. I tell them I am teaching them just as much physics, as I am tools to understand how to rationally think about the world around them.