Dangers of putting hand in airport style x-ray machine?

There is nothing for you to worry about. Airport x-ray machines and similar x-ray machines used by federal and state agencies to screen briefcases and packages give much lower doses than x-ray machines in hospitals and medical clinics—almost immeasurable. They are designed this way because they do not have to see as much detail, are not designed for looking into very large objects, and are usually looking for things that really "stand out" on images (like metal).

X-rays are ionizing radiation. Nothing to play with.

I have to go find something. In the meantime, just have a look at medical x-ray info.

http://www.radiologyinfo.org/mobile/en/safety/inde...

http://www.nrc.gov/about-nrc/radiation/around-us/d...

I was trying to find some exposure times for taking medical xrays. They are typically a fraction of a second. Like 1/10 second or 1/4 secobd, something like that. Medical xray machines are much more powerful than an airport xray machine.

Radiologists often say stupid things when questioned about radiation dosages. The typical comparison is to flying in an airliner. The higher off the ground you fly, the more background radiation there is. But flying for several hours at 35,000 feet, the additional radiation that you are exposed to compared to walking around on the ground is miniscule, compared to a 1/10 second exposure from a medical xray machine.

Alll in all, putting your hand into the airport xray machine was not smart. But the damage to your hand will be much less bad, than perhaps putting your head or your testicles in the machine.

Most people don't understand ionizing radiation, and therefore don't properly fear it. You can't see it and the effects are not instant, like putting your hand in a fire.