Okay, how many of you know who Hulk is? Probably many of you. Now, unless you are like my Dad, who picks up random facts everywhere and manages to stun his 13 year-old like 100 times a day, but rather like me instead, you probably have no idea how gamma radiation managed to turn stately scientist Bruce Banner, into mega-monster The Incredible Hulk (Unless of course you have a dad like mine who likes to be able to answer that kind of question when it gets flung at him) :). Getting off track. Anyway, I’m writing today about Gamma Radiation. And I am going to do my best to explain in my 13 year-old way.

All the radiations, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, destroy your cells. My science book for this year described their effect as “like tiny machine guns, shooting at your cells”. In the drawing above I show the Gamma with a “death ray” because Gamma can also mutate your cells. That is most likely what happened to poor Bruce Banner. Although, this leads me to wonder why isn’t he like that all the time? How do his cells, that make up his entire body, go back to normal after he calms down?

Getting off track again. So, Bruce Banner doing his experiments with Gamma radiation, and then BOOM!!! Something explodes I’m guessing seeing how this is an Avenger movie. 😉 Innocent scientist Bruce Banner’s cells are exposed to high amounts of Gamma Radiation, mutating them and giving certain ones certain abilities. Muscles, get super strong, Skin, go green, Hair, black is the new brown! Feet, get ridiculously giant! Hands, see Feet.

So, in comic books, this makes for a really good story, a scientist is given super powers, joins the good-guys, and helps save the day many times. But on Earth, Gamma Radiation is actually really dangerous, and high exposure will pretty much assuredly kill you. So don’t try everything you read in the comics at home.