The Benefits of Radiation

There are many beneficial uses of radiation in all different situatuations. In medical use there are x-ray machines which use x-rays to view your bones; MRI machines (these do not use ionizing radiation) which use a magnet and radio waves to see inside your body; CAT scans which use x-rays but take a photo from all angles to get a 360 degree view of the body; radioactive tracers which are inserted into the body to find out if you have certain illnesses, which prevents surgery to diagnose an illness; radiation is also used in radiation therapy for cancer patients, in this it destroys cells, it is used to hopefully destroy the cancer cells; relating to this biologists use radioactive tracers to trace objects, or other subjects in the human body. Environemtnalists use radiation tracers to track pollutants in the water of an environment. Energy companies use nuclear powerplants to generate elctricity. Food is sterilized using radiation, which gives it a longer shelf life and eradicates bacteria in the food such as E. coli. Radiation is used to turn plastics into polymers, which is more efficient than super-heating the plastics. Astronauts can use plutonium batteries in dark space, such as the dark side of the moon. Microwave ovens use radioactive microwaves to cook food. Also, many things that are good for us contain radiation, such as potassium which is found in bananas and which we need to survive.