Remote sensing Using remote sensing devices such as X-rays, it is possible to obtain detailed information about internal body

structures without surgery, and consequently the techniques are referred to as being non-invasive.

Basically we have a tube with a cathode (-) & an anode (+). The cathode and the anode have a voltage of the order of 20-100 kV across the tube. The tube is completely evacuated and therefore the cathode rays (electrons) will flow from the cathode towards the anode. The anode is typically made out of tungsten and is angeled (look at diagram) so that the the cathode rays hit the tungsten and x-rays are emerged. The cathode will have a seperate circuit which heats the cathode in order to drive the electrons out of the cathode and then they are attracted to the positively charged anode.

There are 2 processes by which these X-rays are produced: If you take a tungsten nucleus, it will have 74 protons (this is quite a high charge) and if you have a cathode ray or an electron coming past that nucleus, then the chances are that it will be diverted (it will change direction) as it goes around due to electrostatic attraction. Change of direction is acceleration and when a electron is accelerated by changing direction, it will emit electromagnetic radiation and in this case it is X-rays. If you plot intensity vs. wavelength graph for X-rays:

The graph cuts the x-axis at 0.1 (cut-off wavelength) this means there are no X-rays that have a wavelength less then 0.1 or a larger frequency than this because (as wavelength decreases, frequency increases) This process of producing electromagnetic waves is called: Bremsstrahlung radiation.

The reason why there is a limit for the wavelength and frequency (cut-off wavelength) is because as the electron looses energy it gives some of that energy to the X-rays that are emerging. We know energy of a photon (the X-rays will be made up of photons) is given by E = hf, so the energy derived from the electron is converted into X-rays at a frequency, f. Now the electrons will have a maximum energy given by the Voltage supplied, so the electrons moving across in the tube will have energies between 20-100 keV and some of this energy, as the electron slows down, will be given up into X-rays. However, there is a limit. The electron cannot give up more energy than it already has, so even if the electron gives up all its energy, the X-ray wil have a maximum energy corresponding to the energy of the electron so that is why there is a cut-off. The cut-off wavelength represents the point at which there is no more energy for the electron to give up and therefore the Xray energy (E=hf) has a maximum at that point. We also get a graph with peaks:

Where do the peaks come from? Well an atom of tungsten has 74 protons in its nucleus and it will also have 74 electrons orbiting the nucleus. What happens is that an electron comes from the cathode ray will be travelling very fast and with very high energy, and what it can do is that it can hit one of the electrons in the tungsten in orbit. The two electrons will fly of, so then there is a gap in the electron shell in the inner shell, so a electron from the outer shell falls in to the inner shell to fill the gap, but when the electron falls down the energy level, it gives up energy as a photon and that photon is an X-ray, but that energy difference is well defined and that means that the energy the X-ray gets is well defined and since E = hf, that means the frequency is well defined and the frequency is one of the peaks in the graph. Obviously, electrons can come from several outer shells to fill an inner shell and depending on which shell they come from, determines the energy difference between the two shells and that determines the specific frequency peak you can see on Bremsstrahlung radiation.

Now it just so happens that only about 1% of the energy of the electrons that hit the tungsten, is converted into X-rays, the other 99% gets converted into heat energy and heats up the cathode. Consequently, that anode will get very hot, so what you tend to find is that the anode is shaped as a circular disk and it constantly spins.

The electrons are constantly hiiting the angled part of the disc (red arrow), but because it is spinning, not one single point is constantly being heated, so the tungsten doesn't melt. Now the energy of the X-rays that emerge, will depend on the frequency. The previous graph shows, increasing wavelength to the right and increasing frequency in the opposite direction: -> So points near the higher frequency are the high energy X-rays and at points closer to higher wavelength, you get lower energy X-rays. This is significant because we want the X-rays to pass through the body and hit a photographic film underneath. Typically at a tube, a person sitting photographic plate, hospital you have the X-ray or laying on the bed and a is under the bed.

So the X-rays come down and penetrate the body but to different extent and so you will get an image on the photographic plate, but you want the X-Rays to go right through into the film because if they don't get full through and get stuck into the body because they are dangerous to humans and thats why we don't use lower energy X-Rays because they are the most likely to get stuck