Radiation

Radiation has a variety of different meanings.

Look up radiation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Physics

• Cherenkov radiation — Emission of radiation by a particle moving through an insulating medium faster than the speed of light in that medium.
• Electromagnetic radiation — Stream of photons of a variety of different energies. At low frequencies, such as radio, it is common to regard the radiation as continuous rather than as photons.
• Ionizing radiation — Stream of particles (photons or other particles) with sufficient energy to cause ionization of atoms or molecules.
• Gravitational radiation — A predicted consequence of general relativity, however, it has not been directly observed.
• Non-ionizing radiation — Any type of electromagnetic radiation that does not carry enough energy to ionize living material.
• Particle radiation — Any kind of radiation in which the individual elements behave like particles.
• Synchrotron radiation — Emission of radiation by a charged particle undergoing acceleration.
• Thermal radiation — Process by which a hot object emits electromagnetic radiation; it is one of the three methods of heat flow.
• Radiant energy is radiation emitted by a source into the surrounding environment.

Biology

• Adaptive radiation — a process in evolutionary biology by which one species becomes many in order to adapt to specific ecological niches.

See also

• Radioactive contamination — Release of radioactive isotopes into the environment.
• Radioactive decay — Set of various processes by which unstable atomic nuclei (nuclides) emit subatomic particles (radiation).