radiation exposure during an intercontinental flight

during normal solar activity, radiation levels at 10-11 kilometers cruise altitude are about 2-3 uSv/h, which is 20 to 30 times the radiation you're exposed to on the ground.
thus, you get about the same dose as from 1-2 chest x-rays if you fly for 11 hours (but distributed to all of your body - not just the chest, of course).
however, wearing a lead apron to protect yourself would be pretty much useless, as the cosmic rays are of very high energy (after all, they already got into the plane in the first place).

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[adler3008]

If the radioactivity comes from the sun is it not better to fly at night?

[bionerd23]

@adler3008

not really. the high energy radiation gets "pulled" to the poles by the magnetic field. the same stuff happens at night, basically. wikipedia for "aurora borealis". the amount of protection the globe would provide would be minor compared to the amount that still reaches you.

[NamelessBert]

radiation is fucking disgusting..im sorry but it is.. id rather leave my broken arm or leg than go anywhere near an x-ray!

[gabigowriel]

Out of curiosity , what are the effects of such doses of radiation on a human body in the long term?

Good video!

[TheDaniel1323]

Did the person sitting beside you punch u a couple of times by mistake

[specterseal999]

How much radiation can human take in before it start damaging our body?

[AlterEgoTrip]

@bionerd23 thank you for your response. So you are saying that even within the protection of our upper atmosphere, that its still quite nasty with radiation of the accelerated particles...with uranium, the concentration of the material normally doesn't seem AS problematic and yet we know that radon accumulates within stone basements making for a concentration an inescapable bombardment.. which is associated with lung cancers. I also note that there are variations of protons released even hourly.

[bionerd23]

uranium, which is natural and abundant on this planet since the very beginning of earth, look it up. it's not manmade. nor is plutonium manmade. look up the "natural reactors" to know more.

[bionerd23]

then again, where does uranium come from? it's in our PLANET, millions of TONS of uranium are in our PLANET, since the beginning of time, emitting alpha, beta and gamma radiation - alpha radiation and high energy protons are not exactly comparable, but both have a higher radiation weighting factor than photons, and alpha radiation comes from the decay of uranium - (cont)

[bionerd23]

@AlterEgoTrip

well, cosmic rays are actually not only gamma and x-radiation, but also protons - they do a lot more damage on the human body than photons. so do the neutrons, which are also part of the cosmic radiation spectrum, but not detectable with the device in this video (actual aequivalent dose would be ~10 uSv/h with neutrons).

[AngelicNastiness]

I'm glad I'm not a flight attendant anymore.