Gamma rays and how they affect life on Earth

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Ayad Alhazmi
11/8/2018
Gamma rays and how they affect life on Earth


What we think the end of the world would look like is first is a meteor hitting Earth, then the cause of that colision made lava burst out. People frightened for there life, thinking they are going to died as children are crying helplessly. That is what you most likely think of the end of the world. But there are bigger threats like Gamma rays. Gamma rays have the shortest wavelength, so that means that gamma rays are the most energetic and could cause a lot of harm. But thankfully that there is an atmosphere to block the gamma rays from doing potential harm. Gamma rays are the hottest and the most energetic waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. The celestial bodies that produce them are neutron stars, supernovas, some parts of a black hole.




In the article “Gamma-ray bursts may repeatedly wipe out life” Science life's article has some very interesting facts that I would want to share with you. gamma-ray bursts occur frequently enough in about 90 percent of galaxies to alter planets, including Earth Like planets that would otherwise be habitable for life. Earth itself has been exterminated, multiple studies suggests, perhaps contributing to one or more of the planet’s mass extinctions. A small fact I want you to know is that Earth is on the suburbs of the milky way and we are approximately 28,000 light years away from the the center of the galaxy. Research shows that most planets in the universe are pretty unfortunate. Gamma ray bursts occur most frequently in regions that are packed with stars or that are composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium.


Within the article “Could Blasts from Cosmic Collisions Destroy Life on Earth?” one of Space.coms’ articles has very fascinating facts about gamma rays and the science behind gamma rays. The explosions of gamma ray bursts were thought to only occur when two stars collide. It can release tons of high amounts of energy of gamma ray radiation into space. Researchers have found that blasts like that could be contributing to the reduction of Earth's ozone layer. Disruption of the ozone layer lets ultraviolet light to reach the surface of Earth, the effect of letting ultraviolet light getting into the Earth's surface is it can change organisms by mutating their genes. Gamma Ray burst come in 2 forms, a longer, brighter burst and a short burst which hits hard, which only lasts less than a second, but seems to give off more radiation than a longer burst. There are multiple negative effects we would face if the ozone layer depleted. First it can lead to a series of world wide extinction events.





With all of the information we have on gamma rays how scientist can contribute to gamma ray burst. I think they should start to find how to get gamma rays to reflect off of materials. Also see what materials can change to course of the gamma rays. They should see if they can use gamma rays to humanities advantage. These are the steps scientist need to take if they want humanity to survive.



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