Not to intentionally go off topic, but I would like to fix a bit of incorrect / ignorant / scaremongering twaddle.
Most of the radiation from the tanks at sellafeild going straight through you, high frequency gamma rays
Gamma rays will pass through most things. Rule of thumb is 1 metre of lead, or 12m concrete with rebar support to stop it.
But very little damage is caused to anything, since gamma rays are a form of electromagnetic energy in the same frequency band as X-rays. Yes, they might be a little bit of risk that they may do a bit of damage, but aren't even as bad as high-freq UV. Do you really worry about taking an X-ray at hospital? Of course not. For this reason.
This is because, (without getting into the wave-particle duality argument) the size of a gamma particle relative to the atom it "hits" means it is about as likely to collide with the nucleus as I am to win the lottery, pools and a ten-line accumulator every week for the rest of my life. Further reading - Rutherford's observations on the structure of the atom.
NB these particles are high frequency by definition. The electromagnetic (EM) spectrum is commonly referred to by energy, but this is of course a function of frequency:
E = cv, where E = energy, c = speed of light in the material being studied (i.e. Usually assumed as a vacuum) and v is the frequency. Frequency and energy are propertional.
if you end up swallowing or ingesting heavy metals, or having them ingress through your skin, they tend to like sticking to your cellular structure, and said metal is an alpha emittor then you're in more trouble, alpha particles are very heavy and powerful, but can't travel far until they crash into somthing and damage it
I'm sorry, but it tends not to be the fact that heavy metals prefer to stick to any part of your cellular structure that is the issue. It is simply the fact that once within the body / cell, they are stuck, as they are too big to get out again.
But, just for jokes, I would like to demolish this "sticking" nonsense:
Firstly, how would a heavier atom be recognised by any tissue / intracellular assembly / enzyme / protein as being heavier?
The classic way of determining this would be by studying the secondary Kinetic Isotope Effect (KIE) of the metal as a cofactor within the tissue / membrane / protein of choice. And I guarantee that the overall effect of this would be bog-all. Primary (i.e. hydrogen vs deuterium, a change of 100% mass) KIE's are typically around 7 - i.e. 50% enhanced - compared to hydrogen-hydrogen studies. This is irrespective of protein within either eukaryotic or prokaryotic species. Secondary (13C, 15N, 18O, heavy metal etc) KIEs are much less than 7 (usually less the 1, and its a logarithmic scale), as the effect of a "heavy" metal over a "native" metal is very little, usually less than 1% of the total mass. So, in essence the cell hardly recognises a difference in the mass of the heavy atom over the light atom, when the isotopic mass difference is so small. And therefore there's nothing that makes it "sticky" to cells.
Secondly, take the example of radiocarbon dating. The process involves measuring the concentration of 14C in tissue, and then as the half-life of 14C is well known, we are able to determine - based upon the assumed concentration of 14C available at the time, which is relative to the natural abundance of the isotope - the amount of 14C which has decayed since last cellular uptake - i.e. Death.
If we know how much has been lost, and we know the half-life, then we can work out how long ago something was alive.
Can you imagine how this would work, if the "heavy atom" was to "stick" preferentially to the tissue? We, and all creatures, would become enriched with 14C, and while this might make some NMR/MRI experiments / scans a little more interesting, it would mean we couldn't radiocarbon-date. And that our cells would be made of a material which would decay. Which might not be conducive to long lifetimes.
So, there we go. A theoretical and exemplary approach to why heavy atoms don't "tend to stick to your cellular structure".
alpha particles are very heavy and powerful, but can't travel far until they crash into somthing and damage it, having these emit into your cells changes the energy levels and the structure of your DNA
Alpha particles are indeed "heavy", when compared to (essentially) mass-less gamma rays. But with an atomic mass of 4 (i.e. a Helium nucleus) they weigh sod-all compared to, say, a small section of DNA.
Their main damaging effects come from the inertia of the particles during collisions with intracellular matter. As most of this is water and protein, the chance of important stuff being damaged is still quite low. However, inevitably some collisions with DNA occur, and these are the primary problems. These tend to lead to mis-forming, incorrect annealing of the DNA, ionisation of the base pairs, incorrect hydrogen-bonding, random deletions - to name but a few problems. The cell actually has a brilliant way of dealing with these problems - called apoptosis. And this stops all of the problems continuing. However, occasionally for other reasons the apoptotic pathways are stopped , and this is where the secondary effects (i.e. cancers, tumours, boils etc come in.
My point with all of this is that the structure of DNA is not "altered" by the magic alpha particles being in the vicinity. They are altered by a physical collision with the alpha particle.
And I will not get started on the "changing energy levels" bullshoi. But rest assured, alpha particles don't change lightbulbs, clothes, bedsheets or the energy levels of DNA. That is such a crazy proposition as to force my hand to my mouth.
if present in your bloodstream from sticking into your heamoglobin *sp, cause a great deal of damage to your brain cells.
My answer to this - seriously?
1) Would a metal, a heavy, radioactive metal be transported across the brain-blood barrier? Or stay near there long enough to cause enough non-spontaneous damage as to be a health concern? Highly suspect. Neurological problems may result from certain isotopes might occur, but for the vast majority of cases, the neurological complications will be secondary or tertiary problems. Although they'll likely be the problems upon which the underlying cause is determined.
2) Things which stick to haemoglobin stick to it due to the iron ligand which is chelated via the porphyrin haem. These actually stick to the iron atom by displacing what would usually bind there - molecular oxygen. They tend to bind with such high affinity that the haemoglobin may no longer be used to transport dioxygen, and the patient will soon die. The most well known of these compounds are carbon monoxide (CO) and cyanide (-CN) . These stick to the iron of haem due to electronic effects - there is a strong dipole with both of these. Metals, especially heavy-isotope-emitting ones, will not suddenly decide to rewrite science and "stick" to haem. No, no, no, no, no.
Cobalt can, if messed around with enough, bind to some porphorins (example being vitamin B12, cobalamin, via a similar equatorial tetrapyrrole arrangement as haem). But I can't think of any examples where it displaces the iron of haem. My best guess, is that you don't know either, and made up your post to sound clever?
Which brings me to my summary.
1) Most of your arguments are wrong
2) Most of you information is wrong
3) I also understand more than most the horrendous effects of heavy metal and radiation poisoning. However, it does no good to make assumptions, and hope that nobody will question them.
You might just find that someone reading these forums is someone with a degree in biology, a doctorate in chemistry and is employed at a university as a research fellow in molecular biology, looking at the effects of metal cofactors on intra-and extra-cellular processes?
All the best.
Not saying you should say i should worry just making my opinion.
