do the effects of radiation work faster on smaller organisms than larger organisms?

Question

would radiation kill and ant before dog

Answer 1

1st.before moving further you all have to remember one static fact that the radiation on living organisms causes excitation or ionization of various molecules contained in cells both ant and dog have a different biological structure and cellular identifications .
2nd.the intensity and structure of the radiation are different or can be said to be in 2 forms ;
stochastic or nonstochastic


cancer and genetic mutation are prime example of stochastic radiation where nonstochastic radiation results in nonmaligant skin damage , opaqueness of blood .


now the question as i cannot help you much but i think the ant is the 1st one to die ?
Radiation -> . ant Radiation ->O dog

the logic is what does the radiation do which kills the organisms the fact is radiation breaks the molecules rupturing there bonds by the ionizing effects of teh radiation due to this the oxygen and other particles in the cell will become more reactive and will end up becoming highly reactive chemicals like hydroxyl which is done within the cell and within the cell nucleus probably with the chromosomes as it might also effects other organelles such as mitachondria in most cell the malfunction of one of these wont actually have a observable effect on the overall behavior of the cell as there are many mitachondria in a cell .


the killing time depends on the strength of the radiation and on the cell structure of the organisms .

for sure dogs have sophisticated structure and wide variety of the cells .where the ant will have much less sophisticated cell structure which means it would be damaged more then the dog .

therefore , the dog is thicker , ant is not

:. the ant gets more exposed cell organelles comapred to dog
have a nice day



edited after reviewing the answers ;

the question here is stated about the effects of radiation not killing ant or dog .
besides that dog can not adapt mutation within his genes or chromosomes because he has a complex structure of dna where the ant being simple will be effected most and might adapt .

the question is ;do the effects of radiation work faster on smaller organisms than larger organisms?

its not about surviving and besides that the ant will be radiated will sure die but the eggs which will be radiate might survive and adapt because of weaker dna structure .

lets do some biology along with creating weapons of mass destruction

peace to all

Answer 2

Whoa, you've gotten some really bogus answers above. As one who once worked at a national lab that designed and developed nuclear weapons, I can categorically state that the smaller organisms (like insects) have a better chance of surviving radiation than larger, more complex organisms (like mankind).

This results from the fact that the small organisms are rather simplistic in their makeup. They have virtually no brains, for example, only specialized neurons that support the senses. They frequently have exoskeletons; so their innards are protected by a hard shell on the outside (like those scorpions the one answer correctly provided).

Complex organisms, on the other hand, have relatively highly developed brains that can be easily put off balance by radiation. They also have soft innards unprotected from the outside radiation by anything harder and denser than their skin. The organs are easily put out of electro-chemical balance by radiation exposure.

During my research at the national lab, I frequently came across studies that concluded insects would survive WWIII, a global nuclear war. So, to your point, Fido would go before ant Tilly would...all other things equal.

Answer 3

Trick question! In the first above ground atomic blast everything was dead at ground zero except the scorpions. They seemed pretty much unharmed. What this means is there is no direct relationship for life in general to radiation for this question. Indeed there could be life (not yet found) that lives from radioactive energy.

Answer 4

i cant expalin things like a biologist but this i know. It not how fast its how much. When radiation hits a smaller organism how much damage does it cause to the organisms organs and stuff. The more damage the more fatal. Since organisms are small and have small organs i guess thy tend to take more damage.