Biological effects of exposure to radiation radiation can harm either the whole body somatic damage or eggs and sperm genetic damage its effects are more pronounced in cells that reproduce rapidly such as the stomach lining hair follicles bone marrow and embryos. Studies have shown that alpha and neutron radiation cause greater biological damage for a given energy deposition per kg of tissue than gamma radiation does it was discovered biological effects of any radiation increases with the linear energy transfer let in short the biological damage from high let radiation alpha particles protons or neutrons is much greater than that from low let radiation this is because the living tissue can more easily repair damage from radiation that is . The effects of radiation on matter depend on the energy of the radiation nonionizing radiation is relatively low in energy and the energy is transferred to matter in the form of heat ionizing radiation is relatively high in energy and when it collides with an atom it can completely remove an electron to form a positively charged ion that can damage biological tissues. Four things can happen when radiation enters a cell 1 the radiation may pass through without any damage occurring 2 the radiation may damage the cell but the cell repairs the damage 3 the radiation may damage the cellthe damage is not repairedand the cell replicates itself in the damaged form 4 the cell dies