Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-5602817-20140610201854/@comment-34326521-20140619105534

Silentia Altum wrote: Speaking roughly, nuclear energy is energy obtained from a nuclear process. The energy itself is not radioactive, though radiation may be present from the same process. Not unlike how one can receive energy from a nuclear power plant without necessarily getting radiation poisoning. So if we assume that Atomix either does not produce very much radiation or that he has a highly effective containment system (both of which seem possible, especially for Ben 10 physics), then it is possible to conclude that he does not present a danger of radiation poisoning. This seems especially true when one considers the flak that NRG gets for being dangerously radioactive, whereas Atomix does not.

Of course, it also merits note that Atomix has, for the most part, only channeled enough energy to cause relatively small explosions; not nearly as much as would come from an atomic bomb or from a power plant engineered to power an entire city. (The one exception being when he created a miniature sun, but that's an entirely different can of worms.)

Correct me if I'm mistaken anywhere, but I hope this helps. Time for a lesson in physics. *clears throat*

Nuclear energy is, by definition, radioactive. In fact, all electromagnetic energy is called "radiation", along with two (or three, depending on your view) types of particle radiation: alpha particles (helium nuclei, which are moderately dangerous, since they're the most ionizing, but even a thin sheet of paper will keep them out), and beta particles (beta+ are positrons, the anti-particle of the electron, and beta- is the electron; these - particularly the beta+ radiation - are also somewhat dangerous; the beta+ ionizes any atom it comes into contact with, since a positron will "merge" with an electron and emit one pair of photons with the total energy of both particles).

Gamma radiation (what I think Atomix produces) can be (and often is) more dangerous than the particle radiation. You see, radio, microwave, and infra-red aren't all that dangerous. They can heat things up (hence microwaves), but that's about it. They don't really do much. Then there's visible light (yes, visible light is radiation too), which is also harmless to humans. Then there's UV rays, X-rays, gamma rays, and cosmic rays. I don't think I need to tell you about UV, so I'll move on to the other three. Note that none of these are very good at heating things up. In fact, the higher the frequency of the radiation, the less heating power it has.

X-rays are only stopped by a few inches of somewhat dense material, like bones, which is why they're used in diagnostic medicine. They can be harmful, but the doses you receive at the doctor are only harmful if you were receiving them 100,000 times in a row. However, all stars in the known Universe emit high-energy X-rays. Thankfully, our atmosphere absorbs all of them (really) and we (and other species on Earth) don't die. This radiation is mutagenic in sufficient quantities (causes mutations) and ionizing (can ionize an atom).

Gamma radiation can only be stopped by several inches of solid lead. Anything less and it will go right through (although it will also lose a lot of energy). This radiation causes mutations and is ionizing. Again, thankfully, this is not found naturally on Earth.

Finally, there's cosmic rays. These things are deadly, plain and simple. If you were exposed to whatever is emitting them, you would die. No, you would not gain powers and form a superhero team; you would be dead. I said "whatever is emitting them" because we honestly have no idea where it comes from. You know about CERN and the LHC? If not, let me explain succintly: the LHC is the most powerful particle accelerator on Earth, capable of generating energy up to 7 TeV (7 teraelectronvolt, which is 7*10^12 electronvolt). The ultra-high energy cosmic rays observed are higher than 10^19 eV. Seriously, that's the actual limit for being considered an ultra-high energy cosmic ray. And that's after traveling who knows how long to come to Earth and going through out atmosphere.

Solar radiation is another concern. The only creature known to have been able to survive the solar winds emitted by our sun is the Tartigrade, also known as a "Water bear", but these things are possibly the most resilient organisms on Earth, being able to survive without water, oxygen, and survive in outer space while being constantly bombarded with solar winds for at least 11 days (the experiment was only performed for 11 days). These are also deadly, but, thankfully, we have the magnetosphere, which keeps out most solar radiation. The radiation it doesn't keep out manifests itself as what we call auroras, but, in this form, it's not deadly. Auroras are simply the atmosphere being ionized and then releasing the energy that caused the ionization, resulting in colors we can see.

Now, as for the sun Atomix produced, what he did should have incinerated everyone in the room, including Atomix, and possibly even the room itself. The concept of creating a sun isn't new; we've been trying to achieve fusion for decades in order to provide clean, renewable energy for the planet. However, this is in highly shielded rooms. The heat alone can destroy most materials, and the particle radiation is also very dangerous, if not properly contained. What Atomix did - creating a sun with no shielding - should have killed everything in that room. Note: Fusion energy is not dangerous if the shielding or control devices should fail. Due to the nature of fusion, this will stop the fusion reaction within moments, before anything can happen. This is because fusion requires highly controlled temperatures, magnetic fields, and so on. If even one of these things isn't just right, it won't happen. If it is happening and these conditions cease to exist, the reaction will stop on its own within moments.