NATS-101 Introduction to
Global Change
Writing Project by Stewart
Dent
April 4, 2005
POSITION ADVOCATED: Gamma rays are good
List of Positives (Favor my advocacy):
Nuclear explosions might end wars or battles.
The threat of nuclear explosions is deterrent to
others possessing nuclear weapons.
Nuclear explosions might be used for engineering
purposes, eg, excavation.
Gamma radiation:
Naturally emitted from soil minerals (including radon)
and from background
cosmic radiation
Can
kill pathogens
Has been proposed to treat food in order to kill
pathogens in imported food or treat food as it leaves processing factories (eg, it
will kill salmonella)
Neutron
radiation has more penetrating power than gamma radiation
At
Earth’s surface, 100km of atmosphere does help protect us
Radiation is a natural part of Earth’s environment (of
typical exposure by an
individual, about 1/7 is from artificial sources and 6/7 from natural sources):
11%
from radioactive elements in our body (40K and 14C)
8%
from rocks and soils
55%
from radon in indoor air
Balance
from cosmic rays
Seeds treated with gamma radiation were found to have
increased germination
rates, drought tolerance, and growth under low light intensities