What is the probability that background radiation will disturb(significantly) a piece of my dna?

Disturb as in enough to mutate. Background radiation changes depending on where you are so lets say average background radiation here on earth.What is the probability that background radiation will disturb(significantly) a piece of my dna?
Background radiation comes from two places. It comes from above courtesy of all those radiation sources in space; and it comes from below, thanks to the U238 and other unstable elements in the Earths crust.



All up you get a sizeable dose of radiation each year. A copy of your dna is stored in almost every cell in your body. A significant portion of this dna gets damaged every year. However, dna has been exposed to this radiation for billions of years and it has evolved mechanisms to repair itself.



Damage has to be either extreme indeed, or of a type that damages the repair mechanisms before you begin to "mutate".



Recent research suggests that radiation exposure actually "immunises" the body against higher doses.



Here are some sites for futher reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_p鈥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Background_鈥?/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiation_h鈥?/a>



Cheers!
Very, very small probability. Average background radiation on earth is the aggregate of the CMB, radiation from the sun (including radio waves all the way up to x-rays, although most everything above UV-A is filtered out by the ozone layer), and radio waves produced artificially. The most powerful radiation you will be exposed to in a given day will be sunlight. UV light, particularly UV-B, is capable of damaging cell DNA, this is the cause of most skin cancer (melanoma). I don't know if you consider sunlight to be "background" radiation though.



The most powerful radiation you will be exposed to that can travel through your body is from a cell phone. Typically, digital cell phones operate at .6 watts, in the 800 - 1900 MHz range. These are considered microwaves, however a microwave oven operates at a higher frequency, 2.45 GHz, which is higher energy waves. Also a microwave produces around 600 - 1800 watts, which is over 1000 times as powerful as a cell phone. Remember a transmitter's power drops off with the square of the distance, that's why all the radio stations, radar, etc don't have as much as an effect as your cell phone, which you hold right next to your head.



There are no studies clearly linking cell phones with health risks (aside from texting while driving). And they don't cook your sperm, either.



The CMB is less than 3 degrees Kelvin, which is extremely weak.What is the probability that background radiation will disturb(significantly) a piece of my dna?
Your cellphone radiation would cause a million times more damage than CBMR. When you talk on cellphone, it might cook the semen in the seminal vesicles into hard solid that blocks the passage making you impotent or cook the fluid in the eyeballs like the white of an egg that is delicious to eat reducing it to an eye-filling cataract. Remember, 'Microwaves' is good for 'cooking' that we discovered now.

Actually these (what I mentioned) may be too weak to do the damage that might be if you live a bit longer, say two to two and half thousand years. I am only citing the potential for damage; that is all.
Are you worried you might mutate into comic book man from The Simpsons and have to live in a parallel universe where you would have wings and a sword and mighty powers?!What is the probability that background radiation will disturb(significantly) a piece of my dna?
a very looooooooow probability
That depends entirely on how long you live. On Earth, maybe 100% if you live to be 100 billion years.
Almost nil.