Are alpha particles harmful if they strikes the body from external sources?

Question

pls send me fast as possible.....

Answer 1

Alpha particles can be absorbed by tissue paper or the outer layers of human skin (about 40 micrometres, equivalent to a few cells deep) and so are not generally dangerous to life unless the source is ingested or inhaled. But if alpha radiation is ingested to body, it could be most dangerous as it is most destructive form of ionizing radiation.
An interesting fact to note, alpha emitter polonium-210 is suspected of playing a role in lung and bladder cancer related to tobacco smoking!!!

Answer 2

I'm not a nuclear scientist but i have had training in nuclear safety. The apha particle which is a 2 proton 2 neutron high energy (speed) particle does not have the power to penetrate a piece of tissue paper in fact in nuclear powerstation the uranium fuel is load by workers using thin rubber gloves to avoid heavy metal containation. So from a external source outside the body i believe there is little worry. But why risk it at all. However if you ingest the source than it can hurt the internal organs.
The main worry is gamma radiation which can penetrate the body and demage cells. So unloading a nuclear power plant of the spent fuels very dangerous because fuel has been convert into gamma radiators like cobalt 60.
Hope this help. Do some rearch yourself don't just take my word.

Answer 3

They don't get much past the outer layers of your skin so they are not generally considered to have enormous potential for seriously harming people unless taken internally. I suppose that you could come up with unlikely scenarios where they were impinging on your skin in high concentrations and/or for longish periods ( long enough for you to wipe-off all the protective dead skin cells and expose a new set of layers underneath but not long enough to grow new layers ) which could do some permanent damage, personally I quite like my skin and would not want to test this out.

Answer 4

Generally, alpha is only a threat if its internal. The skin provides enough protection from external alpha.

Answer 5

In fact, if you take down your smoke detector from the ceiling and look inside, you'll see that it has an alpha source in it. Typically, americium-241