Radiation is a scary concept. It has led to many premature deaths over the past 70 years, from atomic bomb victims in Japan to physiologists who experimented without taking proper safety precautions. The most dangerous form of radiation can be devastating to the body, weakening or eliminating the immune system and shredding the very DNA of cells. This form is called ionizing radiation, and even less harmful powers, such as X-rays and UV light, can increase the risk of cancer and other health problems. It has enough energy to knock electrons out of atoms in a process called ionization. To get a better idea of ​​how much radiation a human can absorb, you first need to understand how radiation is measured. The standard unit for measuring doses of these energy waves is called a sievert. However, a dose equal to half a single sievert will often cause radiation sickness, so smaller, more tolerable amounts are measured in millisieverts (a thousand of which form a single sievert) and microsieverts (a million of which form a single sievert). . To put these measurements in perspective, a standard chest x-ray exposes a person to about 20 microsieverts of radiation, an entirely tolerable dose. The EPA's annual limit on the amount of radiation a member of the public can be exposed to over the course of a year is a single millisievert, the equivalent of 50 standard chest X-rays. Symptoms of radiation poisoning or acute radiation syndrome – vary depending on the dosage of radiation a person has received. If someone is exposed to 400 mSv of radiation in a short amount of time, they are very likely to start experiencing these symptoms. The person could find themselves afflicted… middle of paper… any human being. On his way out of the building, Slotin vomited. This was a common reaction. His colleagues rushed him to hospital, but it was too late. The irreversible damage had already been done. Over the next nine days, Slotin suffered from severe diarrhea, reduced urine output, swollen hands, huge blisters and paralysis, among other things. Even with the advanced treatments we have today, such as bone marrow transplants, Slotin would not have survived. The damage done to each of his cells on a molecular scale was too great. Slotin died on May 30, 1946. This unfortunate accident demonstrates the dangers of radiation and the effects of exposure to high-energy particles and waves on the body. A single burst of radioactive energy can displace electrons within our own cells and render them unable to function properly, leading to disease and eventual death..