Radiation of light

[EvoN1020v]

I got an interesting idea. This morning when I was going to the bathroom, I was just thinking about my bedroom alarm clock. The alarm clock have LED (laser) numbers on the screen. Well, during the nights, I would put a shirt covering the clock, because the brightness of the light would bother me when I go to sleep. During the strolling to the bathroom, I was thinking if I leave the shirt there covering the alarm clock for a long period of time, (say 5 to 10 years?). Would the radiation of the LED lights make the shirt radioactive?

[5614]

No. Different type of radiation.

 

The LEDs emit electromagnetic radiation... that is visible light. The electromagnetic spectrum also includes: radio waves, microwaves, IR, UV, gamma rays and X-rays.

 

Whereas radioactive things have unstable nuclei and consequently decay through alpha, beta or gamma radiation.

 

Alpha radiation is 2 protons and 2 neutrons together.

Beta radiation is made from electrons.

Gamma radiation is made from gamma rays (which is actually part of the electromagnetic spectrum).

 

So the answer to your question is "no" because they are different things.

 

Also why did you say "LED (laser)"? I ask because LEDs and lasers are very different things. Similarly laser diodes and LEDs (light emitting diodes) are also very different.

[BhavinB]

^^ good answer. I actually thought his question implied "Can EM radiation damage a material enough that it becomes radioactive?"...To which the answer is also no (for most materials).

[EvoN1020v]

Actually what I meant, was that the shirt might absorbs the EM radiation from the alarm clock and the shirt itself become radioactivity? Because after a lengthy of time, I smell the shirt, and it smelt like profuse of radiations on it. The smell actually made me feel sick.

 

[insane_alien]

you can't smell radiation. Was it a shirt you had on earlier? if so its probably B.O.

[CanadaAotS]

lmao...

 

btw, it alarm clocks and other electrical devices I feel have an "electric smell" so to speak, kind of smells like something burning. Probably the electronics heating up dust particles inside it or something.

 

Is this what your talking about?

[5614]

Actually what I meant, was that the shirt might absorbs the EM radiation from the alarm clock and the shirt itself become radioactivity?

I know that's what you meant and the answer remains the same. It's like saying "if there's enough rain will it snow?".

 

The electromagnetic radiation the LEDs emit are photons.

 

Radioactive samples emit 3 different type of radiation (see my last post about that).

 

 

Because after a lengthy of time, I smell the shirt, and it smelt like profuse of radiations on it. The smell actually made me feel sick.

You can smell a radioactive sample and you can't smell electromagnetic radiation (ie. light). So what you smell must, as CanadaAotS said, be the electromagnetic radiation (light) heating something* up which then releases a smell.

 

*That something could be in the shirt or the clock itself. Although if you notice the smell specifically from the shirt it would rule out the clock smell possibility.

[Klaynos]

I would say no. but for a differnt reason for "they are differnt things"

 

Because EM radiation includes both the visible spectrum which is what the LED's are transmitting photons of and Gamma photons which are a form of ionising radiation.

 

They are both photons, but Gamma photons have far more energy/photon than visible photons. And quite simply the visible ones do not have enough energy to be able to change the atoms nuclei to make them unstable.

 

Saying they are differnt things is like saying the pot of water is a differnt thing to this other pot of water because it is hotter.

 

Photons are quantised energy just putting enough of them into something wont deliver any more energy/photon so it wont do anything differnt than just one photon at a time, it'll just do it quicker.

 

As stated above your shirt might heat up due to the LED's and a slight heating could make it smell slightly I supose...

[5614]

What you say is true, but you are only taking into account 1 type of radiation (caused by radioactivity). Although just one exception to any proof makes it wrong, so maybe you're right.

 

Also considering the OP isn't certain of the differences between EM radiation and radioactive radiation maybe it isn't such a good idea to confuse him with gamma ray thing, although at the same time it is right.

 

The one thing EvoN1020v should take from this thread is to understand the difference between the 2 types of radiation.

 

=====

 

Maybe what the EvoN1020v meant was that maybe the energy from all of the light would combine to make the shirt radioactive. Just like long exposure to the LEDs made the shirt hot, would a longer exposure make it radioactive?

 

The answer to that is still no because all you would be doing is heating and heating the shirt. To make something radioactive it needs to have an unstable nucleus, for this to happen you need one big amount of energy (e.g. from high energy electromagnetic radiation, such as gamma rays), lots of little bits of energy (e.g. visible light) will not work for this.

[swansont]

Similarly laser diodes and LEDs (light emitting diodes) are also very different.

 

 

Not that different — they are both diodes. A laser diode has parallel cleaved ends which, because of the index difference, are reflective. This forms a laser cavity. If you damage one of the facets, it turns back into an LED. However, not all materials used in LEDs can be made to lase easily.

[EvoN1020v]

Thanks for the clarification.