Today’s x-ray machines produce a stream of electromagnetic radiation that interacts with an anode in an x-ray tube. When x-rays come into contact with our body tissues, they produce an image on a metal film. Soft tissue, such as skin and organs, cannot absorb the high-energy rays, and the beam passes through them.
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How do X-ray machines generate x-rays?
X-rays are commonly produced in X-ray tubes by accelerating electrons through a potential difference (a voltage drop) and directing them onto a target material (i.e. tungsten). The incoming electrons release X-rays as they slowdown in the target (braking radiation or bremsstrahlung).
What is a X-ray machine and how does it work?
An X-ray is produced when a negatively charged electrode is heated by electricity and electrons are released, thereby producing energy. That energy is directed toward a metal plate, or anode, at high velocity and an X-ray is produced when the energy collides with the atoms in the metal plate.
How do xrays work?
How X-rays work. X-rays are a type of radiation that can pass through the body. As they pass through the body, the energy from X-rays is absorbed at different rates by different parts of the body. A detector on the other side of the body picks up the X-rays after they’ve passed through and turns them into an image.
What are X-ray detectors made of?
Direct detectors Since the 1970s, silicon or germanium doped with lithium (Si(Li) or Ge(Li)) semiconductor detectors have been developed. X-ray photons are converted to electron-hole pairs in the semiconductor and are collected to detect the X-rays.
Do bones absorb X rays?
Different parts of the body absorb the x-rays in varying degrees. Dense bone absorbs much of the radiation while soft tissue (muscle, fat, and organs) allow more of the x-rays to pass through them. As a result, bones appear white on the x-ray, soft tissue shows up in shades of gray, and air appears black.
Why are X rays called X rays?
Where does the “X” in “X-ray” come from? The answer is that a German physicist, Wilhelm Roentgen, discovered a new form of radiation in 1895. He called it X-radiation because he didn’t know what it was. This mysterious radiation had the ability to pass through many materials that absorb visible light.
