According to the Inverse-square law the radiation is proportional to 1/r². However, I had a discussion and I think a computer (or any other body) travelling closer and closer to the sun, will be damaged by gamma/x-rays proportional to 1/r³, because the amount of photons per volume unit scales with 1/r³ and these photons are not absorbed by the surface, thus the amount of absorbed energy should be equivalent to Photons/m³ or W/m³. Which solution is correct? How does computer damage scale with this type of radiation.
2 Answers
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Not all photons in your volume will hit the computer.
The number hitting the computer will scale with the area of the computer presented to the Sun divided by the surface area of the sphere centred on the Sun and of radius equal to the computer to Sun distance.
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Inverse square law is valid for point sources. For large objects, if you're far enough away so that it looks like a point source, you can use inverse square law. Once you get up close though, you can't use $1/r^2$ anymore.
