Gamma ray
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Gamma rays are electromagnetic waves with the smallest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum. (The electromagnetic spectrum is made of many types of waves that are like light, but you can not see all of them.) Gamma rays are produced by some types of radioactive atoms. Gamma rays are like x-rays. Both gamma rays and x-rays are photons with very high energies. Gamma rays are also a type of radiation. Gamma rays can travel through thick materials.
Cobalt-60 and potassium-40 are two isotopes that emit gamma rays. Cobalt-60 is created in accelerators and is used in hospitals. Potassium-40 occurs naturally. Small amounts of potassium-40 are in all plants and animals. Gamma rays from potassium-40 each have an energy of 1460 thousand electron volts (keV).
[change] Gamma Rays in Medicine
Gamma rays can also go through the skin to kill cells, such as cancerous cells. Doctors can use machines which produce gamma rays in hospitals to treat people with some types of cancer.
Doctors also use gamma rays to find disease. In hospitals, doctors can give patients radioactive medicine which emits gamma rays. Doctors can find some types of disease by measuring gamma rays which come from a patient afterward.
