WHAT ARE GAMMA RAYS?

         As any Hulk-fan knows, it was gamma rays that turned mild mannered scientist David Banner into the rampaging, green-skinned monster we love so well. But what exactly are gamma rays? For a start they're not really rays but definitely small particles that travel in a wave pattern, like light...and along with light, radio waves and atomic radiation, they form of the electromagnetic spectrum, in which various types of radiation are arranged according to the length of waves they travel in. At one end of the spectrum, with the longest waves, we have ordinary ratio frequencies...then moving down we come across micro waves, infra red, ordinary light, ultra violet rays, x-rays, gamma rays and cosmic rays. As you see, the gamma rays fall at the shorter end of the spectrum, and have a very short wave length...about one-twenty-thousand-millionth of an inch long! They also vibrate at a staggeringly high speed: 150,000,000,000,000,000,000 times a second! There are two main sources for gamma rays.. the sun and radioactive material like radium. And it was from the early days of research into radioactivity that gamma rays got their name. It was discovered that there were three major types of radiation, and as a convenient label for each one scientists attributed them the first three letters of the greek alphabet; alpha, beta and gamma. Alpha particles are the largest and slowest, being positively charged atoms of helium. Next come beta-particles, which are negatively charged electrons, and finally are the gamma-rays which fall into a sort of indeterminate state between energy and matter, like x-rays. They can be extremely penetrating... whereas an alpha particle can be stopped by a piece of aluminum foil only one tenth of a millimeter thick, gamma-rays can pass through a foot of iron! Even this seems fairly insignificant though when you compare them with cosmic rays, which can penetrate eighteen feet of lead... and have been recorded at the bottom of mine shafts! The sun is continually producing electro magnetic waves all the way across the spectrum, from radio waves and light right down to gamma rays and cosmic rays. This whole range of energy is generally known as the solar wind, our planet is bathed in this radiation every second of the day and night. Fortunately a lot of the more deadly radiation is cut out by the earth's atmosphere, but when there is a particularly strong eruption of energy from the sun, it can have a devastating effect on the earth... solar storms have been known to block out radio communications for two or three days at a time. Fortunately, these storms of solar energy are fairly predictable as they seem to be tied in with solar flares and sunspots... and sunspots are known to occur according to a definite cycle, with peaks of activity every 11 1/3 years. So we're constantly being influenced by gamma rays, but fortunately, like cosmic rays only a tiny amount of them get through our atmosphere. These days, a lot of research is going on into the effects of electromagnetic radiation, and it's always possible that there might be some sort of connection between high gamma ray activity and events on Earth, like feats of strength... though no one seems to have found it yet. And as for the effects gamma rays have on the human body, probably the only person who knows is David Banner. But if you ever get the chance to ask him about it, ask him nicely... don't make him angry, or....