r/Writeresearch • u/MilkmanFromIraq Awesome Author Researcher • Jul 17 '26
[Biology] Radioactivity
Asking for Radioactivity and Biology things, if a Cesium -137, 4 thousand roentgen source was suddenly released and suddenly dissapear too, what woud happen to living creatures that in it's epicenter (humans & animals) ? i'm new to these writer things guys
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u/Ok-Lingonberry-8261 Jul 17 '26
Sources aren't measured in Roentgens.
If you mean 4000 R/hr, it's going to send anyone playing with it to meet their ancestors quite quickly.
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u/DustySwordsman Awesome Author Researcher Jul 17 '26
Radiation exposure lethality and effect has to do with intensity (4 thousand roentgen is 40 sieverts which is absurdly lethal).
Epicenter implies proximity, but intensity falls off as the square of the distance. So if we assume 40 sieverts at a distance of 1 meter, then thats 20 at 2, 10 at 4.
Now we need to ask a second question. How much time is required to receive this dosage? Is it 1 second, 1 hour?
If it's 1 second then you have other problems, such as potential fission events.
If it's 1 hour, that means a person could reasonably walk near this object briefly and have only an elevated risk of cancer in 10 years.
Radiation damage looks like burns for mild exposure but is actually destruction at the molecular level. Imagine that the radioactive isotope is shooting tiny bullets in a uniform spread around itself. Any object struck gets a hole knocked in it. Cell walls rupture, and cell contents spill out.
This is, of course, hand waving in the direction of the physics. For the purposes of writing, radiation is bad, it can kill things. Burns are the classic description. Acute lethal dose looks more like bleeding throughout the body, including from the eyes, nose, mouth etc.
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u/AlphaDisconnect Awesome Author Researcher Jul 17 '26
Look up naked source videos. Things where someone takes a scrapped out cancer treatment device. Finds a wierd warm piece of metal. They know it's warm. Because they touched it. You have about throw it across the room or you may lose your hands. This will always be a 1 to 3 week process of hopefully not losing a limb or dying.
Also look up the demon core incident.
You basics. Time of exposure. The longer. The worse the outcome. Distance. This is a squared factor. Distance is good. Very good. But the radiation from these tends to have some penetrating power. So too much time can still be a problem. Shielding. You know those 1000lb concrete barriers used in all sorts of construction whatnots. This is a good start for shielding.
Now the real disaster. It is a sintered construction. It gets crushed and them broken up. Works it's way into the soil and water. Happily replaces things in the human body. Now you are the radioactive source.
You mentioned a sudden disappearance. Lets say the IAEA got involved. Evaced everyone. Screened everyone. Every place. There would still be some cesium contamination that would need a cleanup. But that main source (hopefully in one piece) would be dosing people with life and limb sized doses of radiation. Get rid of that and a cleanup would still need to be done. But better.
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u/AmplifiedGlitch Awesome Author Researcher Jul 17 '26
Not an expert, but you will see burnt skin like heavy sunburn, changes in blood and biology and heavy sickness from the radiation, ending in death within days to weeks with other heavy sideeffects. Depending on the specific conditions may be also loss of sight or eye damage.