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Cake day: June 25th, 2023
  • SkybreakerEngineer@lemmy.worldtoNo Stupid Questions@lemmy.world•If a Space Elevator became a reality, wouldn't the cable act as a kind of wick for all of the unfiltered radiation from outside our atmosphere?English
    7·
    2 months ago

    Any time you talk radiation, you need to be specific about what kind of particles, how much energy they have, and how much of it there is.

    Most of the stuff in orbit is charged particles (electrons and small atoms) and low energy photons. Those get stopped by relatively thin layers of shielding, but if you’re not careful you’ll get cooked from raw heat.

    Ionizing radiation like neutrons or x- and gamma-range photons can radioactivate materials, and take more shielding – think feet of water or a couple inches of lead. Nuclear reactors have that, but spaceships don’t. Fortunately unless you bring a reactor with you they’re rare enough that it’s not really necessary.

    Substances become radioactive when they get hit by some kind of ionizing radiation and change into an isotope that itself emits radiation. Conducting radiation like a wick isn’t really a thing.