I was playing Fallout and it got me thinking, how much radiation

File: SI_Radiation_dose_units.png (95KB, 1280x720px) Image search: [Google]

95KB, 1280x720px

Depends.
Irradiation with gamma rays sterilises food. It kills bacteria/microorganisms and the food doesn't continue to emit radiation afterwards so it's perfectly safe.
Alpha particles are the most damaging to biological systems but they're blocked by cardboard or thin foil so the food inside a sealed container could be safe even if the container was irradiated.
Harm to humans is complicated to work out because it's about radiation dose delivered to sensitive tissues which depends on how the body absorbs specific radioisotopes and how they decay.

>>9079364
Interesting. Would the stomach be better suited to handle irritated materials more than say the skin?

>>9079447
Ask Alexander Litvinenko

>>9079447
No. The tissue weighting factor [math]W_T[/math] will give you an idea of what's better suited to handle radiation.
https://radiopaedia.org/articles/tissue-weighting-factor
Basically the faster cells are normally replaced in a tissue type the worse it's affected by radiation. Stomach cells are replaced fairly fast. Skin is slower and as an organ its purpose is to be a protective outer layer so it's robust and can take a lot of damage.

>>9078445
With ionization radiation it might break down some compounds into something less healthy. In general it will just make it stale or ashy.

Simple contamination might lead to heavy metal poisoning, but that's not radiation.

For neutron radiation, pretty much impossible for nonmetals, but you'd need lots of it. So maybe you could make the iron of the can slightly dangerous.

>>9080213
>>9079864
that's fascinating, thank you very much.