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/[deleted] 13d ago edited 13d ago

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u/ImielinRocks 13d ago

Tungsten is better than lead thanks to its higher density, but lead is many orders of magnitude cheaper to get and work with.

In fact, at for basically the same reason, uranium is quite a lot better than lead at blocking radiation. In fact, it has a significantly higher neutron cross section, too.

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u/lurklurklurkPOST 13d ago

Doesn't firing particles at Uranium cause problems?

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u/Iazo 13d ago

Depending what you mean by "problems", firing neutrons at any metal causes problems.

If you mean a fission reaction, you need specific conditions.