Wavelength

Gamma rays have very short wavelengths (10-9m to 10-11cm),
They carry large amounts of energy and can penetrate almost everything, including metals and concrete, and our bodies.They have extremely high frequencies, and a very high penetrating power, which results from the fact that they have no electric charge and thus do not interact with matter as strongly as charged particles do. They carry large amounts of energy and can penetrate almost everything, including metals and concrete, and our bodies.The powerful nature of gamma rays have made them useful in the sterilising of medical equipment by killing bacteria. They are also used to kill bacteria in foodstuffs, particularly meat and vegetables, to maintain freshness. This is called "Radiotherapy", and works because cancer cells can't repair themselves like healthy cells can when damaged by gamma rays. Getting the dose right is very important! There's also targeted radiotherapy, where a radioactive substance is used to kill cancer cells - but it's a substance that'll be taken up by a specific part of the body, so the rest of the body only gets a low dose. An example would be using radioactive iodine to treat cancer in the thyroid gland. Gamma rays cause cell damage and can cause a variety of cancers.They cause mutations in growing tissues, so unborn babies are especially vulnerable.

X-rays are used by doctors to see inside people. They pass easily through soft tissues, but not so easily through bones. We send a beam of X-Rays through the patient and onto a piece of film, which goes dark where X-Rays hit it. This leaves white patches on the film where the bones were in the way.Sometimes a doctor will give a patient a "Barium Meal", which is a drink of Barium Sulphate. This will absorb X-rays, and so the patient's intestines will show up clearly on a X-Ray image.
X-Rays are also used in airport security checks, to see inside your luggage. They are also used by astronomers - many objects in the universe emit...