Of all the radiation-based chemical reactions that have been studied, the most important is the decomposition of water. When exposed to radiation, water undergoes a breakdown sequence into hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen radicals, and assorted oxygen compounds, such as ozone, which when converted back into oxygen releases great amounts of energy. Some of these are explosive. This decomposition is produced mainly by alpha particles, which can be entirely absorbed by very thin layers of water.
Summarizing, the radiolysis of water can be written as: