When I did physics I remember 3 types of Uranium being shown, one couldn't penetrate paper and was very weak and continued in distance of the radiation travelled almost indefinitely, the middle one could penetrate the paper but had a relatively short range, the last could penetrate a lot of materials but only had a very short range of a few inches.
alpha - stopped by skin/paper/almost anything. unbelievably lethal if swallowed
beta - stopped by thin sheets of metal and clothing. can cause beta burns on skin which are not lethal
gamma - stopped by very thick lead or concrete. the least damage of the three but penetrates the body and damages cells in the process
My question then is that, what I gather from this is that the greater the power of the Uranium the more it penetrates and damage it does the less distance it is able to travel.
think of the size of a human and then think about how much radiation was released into the air
So how does this then relate to the radiation given off from Chernobyl, as it was able to reach all the way to England and was still lethal to livestock when it arrived, and it was obviously incredibly powerful.
alpha, beta and gamma particles were exposed to the air after the explosion where the wind carried them over the continent. alpha and beta particles(incredibly lethal if ingested) were carried down onto england by the rain. the isotopes landed on the grass which was eaten by livestock. the livestock were then highly contaminated and any of their produce(milk, meat) would also be contaminated. if people consumed that produce they would also consume lethal alpha and beta particles and would die
But parts of the actual site were relatively safe for people to be in at the time
the word safe is used very loosely here. im assuming by safe you mean not pertaining to acute radiation sickness within minutes like the firefighters were. gamma radiation damages the cells. ARS occurs when you receive so much that the DNA in your cells is destroyed to the point where the cell is irreparable. the people who didn't develop ARS still received significant damage to their DNA because of their exposure and developed/will develop cancer in time, as cancer is caused by dna being unable to kill its own damaged cell and then dividing/growing uncontrollably.
it was 'safer' as the liquidation progressed. in the first two days when they were still trying to figure out the scale of the disaster multiple kgb helicopter crews and other workers received lethal doses because they were simply unaware of how dangerous it was. as the reactor fire was extinguished and was smothered in sand the release of radioisotopes decreased. refer to the scene where the general informs legasov of the reduction in caesium-137 emissions
So how exactly did the radiation travel such a great distance? How did it carry on going? Is it because it's a different type of Uranium or what?
amount of ionising radiation released into the air plus wind and rain