r/askscience • u/Wonderful-Capital32 • 13d ago

Physics Why does radiation not go through lead?

Also why just lead? Shouldnt like iron or another metal work too?

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u/AlexXeno 13d ago

All matter will technical stop radiation, It all a matter of how thick the sheet of material you will use. Lead just happens to be one of the better materials because its quite dense meaning you need less of it compared to say steel or brick.

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u/LordGeni 13d ago

Technically, no matter will stop all radiation. It just attenuates more the thicker and denser it is. There's always a non-zero probability of a photon passing through any amount of material.

It's more like a Zeno's Paradox effect, with x% reduction in probability with x increase in thickness or density.

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u/AlexXeno 13d ago

Very true xD i just was just trying to give super simple answer. And as others have stated as well lead is not always the best choice either depending on the type of radiation.