Which is more dangerous of all three radiations?

Question

Is is true that alpha and beta rays are more dangerous when swallowed or inhaled because of their ionizing powers?
Then how about gamma rays which have powerful penetrating capabilities?

Answer 1

Alphas are very dangerous, but don't penetrate the dead skin layer so if not inhaled they are no danger at all.

Betas are not so bad, but penetrate further.

Gammas penetrate a lot and cause things like skinburn.

Answer 2

The reason alpha particles are so dangerous if inhaled is that, because of their short range, they deposit a lot of energy in a very small volume, and therefore cause a lot of localised damage.

Gamma radiation CAN be dangerous because it can penetrate the whole body, so if there's enough intensity the energy deposited throughout the body can be large.

Beta particles are sort of part way between the two and, therefore, are *generally* considered less dangerous. However, as always, there's a lot of depencency on the energy of the specific particle or gamma ray.

Answer 3

Yes, penetration power is inversely proportional to ionization power...

As gamma rays have a high penetrating power, they don't do a lot of damages.

Alpha rays, or particles are much bigger, and dangerous... They are He^2+ atoms.

As Yokki says, it all really depends on the radiation intensity!

MJ