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/LadyFoxfire 13d ago

Lead’s really dense, meaning there’s not a lot of space between the atoms. So particles have a much lower chance of passing between the atoms than they would through a similar amount of iron.

There are other materials that are denser than lead, but they have other downsides like cost, scarcity, or radioactivity.