Creation Day One: "Let there be light!"
4 7
Have you ever had an X-ray taken of your teeth or other body parts? X-rays are very high frequency waves made by firing electrons at a target inside an X-ray tube. Inside of the X-ray machine in every doctor and dentist's office is a glass tube that contains a metal filament at the end of the (-) cathode that emits electrons. The
moment the X-ray machine is turned on, electrons are released by the hot cathode filament and accelerate to ward the (+) charged metal anode. This results in electron s colliding with atoms trapped in the small space between the (-) cathode and (-) anode. These spontaneous collisions cause the inner shell electrons encircling the nucleus of the trapped atoms to be temporarily knocked out of orbit and release high energy X-ray photons .
X-rays can pass easily through soft tissue like skin, but not through your bones. A trained X-ray technician send s a beam of X- r ays through the patient and onto a piece of film, which goes dark where X- r ays pass through, but leave white patches on the film where the bones were in the way. X- r ays are also used in airport security checks, to see inside your luggage. They are also used by astronomers - many objects in the universe emit X-rays. X-Rays can also cause cell damage and cancers. T his is why X-ray technicians stand behind a protective lead shield when they X-ray their patients. WARNING - "1" CAT Scan is equal to 200 chest X-rays!
Made with FlippingBook Converter PDF to HTML5