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Basic Radiation Physics

Course Number: 570

What is Ionizing Radiation?

Electromagnetic radiation may be non-ionizing or ionizing.2,5,6,7 Non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation has energies <5eV that produce low energy radiation like visible light, microwaves, and radio waves. Ionizing electromagnetic radiation has energies of >5eV volts that remove electrons from an atom and produce high-energy radiation like gamma rays and x-rays.